In the Shadow of Camelot: JFK and Chronic Pain

Rocking chairs that belonged to John F. Kennedy can be found in museums and collections worldwide. He kept them everywhere, from the Oval Office to the White House residence and aboard Air Force One. But the story behind them was largely private: his struggle with pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and other symptoms that the medicine of his era couldn’t fully explain. The chairs were prescribed to help relieve JFK’s pain by keeping his back muscles in motion.

Some pain specialists say that JFK’s symptoms were consistent with fibromyalgia. This diagnosis would not conflict with the president’s better-known medical conditions, including severe back pain and Addison’s disease, the adrenal disorder behind his characteristic tan. Physicians now recognize that fibromyalgia—known as fibrositis at the time and poorly understood—often exists alongside other medical conditions.

It’s understandable that medicine back then lacked the knowledge to interpret all of his symptoms. What’s troubling is that despite advances in pain science, Americans with chronic pain still face a similar struggle. Millions living with fibromyalgia wait more than six years for a diagnosis as they navigate disconnected treatments, questionable procedures, and one prescription after another to chase one symptom at a time.

When pain defies easy answers

At least one in four U.S. adults lives with chronic pain. Many chronic pain conditions are now understood to involve nociplastic pain caused by altered central nervous system processing, not tissue damage. These invisible syndromes evade standard testing and require careful listening to recognize complex symptom patterns. As JFK’s experience illustrates, multiple conditions can complicate diagnosis and expose patients to treatments that are too often ineffective and ill-advised.

In addition to corticosteroid replacement therapy for Addison’s disease, JFK was prescribed opiates and other medications for pain, sleep, and fatigue. By 1955 when Dr. Janet Travell began treating him with non-surgical therapies, including his signature rocking chairs, he’d already undergone multiple back surgeries and was sometimes seen on crutches. Those procedures led to infection and other complications, failed to relieve his pain, and may have worsened it. Yet people with undiagnosed nociplastic pain conditions still receive opioid therapy with no proven benefit for chronic pain and undergo unnecessary procedures.

The consequences of delayed diagnosis and fragmented care are not unique to JFK. When patients with chronic pain conditions are left in diagnostic limbo, years can pass before effective treatment begins. Despite a number of FDA-approved non-opioid therapies for chronic pain, including four for fibromyalgia, missed diagnoses remain an avoidable barrier to evidence-based care.

Time for 21^st-century diagnosis

JFK’s doctors didn’t have the benefit of modern pain science. Now physicians do. They have the training and clinical criteria to provide timely diagnosis and treatment for chronic pain conditions. The challenge is ensuring patients receive care grounded in today’s science, not yesterday’s assumptions. When labs and imaging are “normal,” clinicians should take the time to recognize symptom patterns and make earlier diagnoses. Everyday practice should reflect the availability of effective non-opioid therapies.

Chronic pain care still has room to evolve through policies that reflect current science. Healthcare siloes specialist providers by body system, making it difficult to connect the dots for conditions like fibromyalgia. Reimbursement models should support coordinated evaluation and holistic treatment, while federal legislation should expand access to FDA-approved nonaddictive therapies. Along with treatment, an accurate diagnosis can provide something patients desperately need: a prognosis. After years of pain and uncertainty, that prognosis may be far better than patients fear.

More than half a century later, JFK’s profile in chronic pain is all too familiar. The science of his era couldn’t explain all of the symptoms behind his private struggle. Even with today’s medical advances, millions of Americans are still waiting for answers. Earlier diagnosis can change the trajectory of their lives by opening the door to safe, effective treatments. People living in pain deserve the promise of 21st-century medicine and care.

About the Author

Seth Lederman is co-founder, CEO and chairman of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp., a biotech company focused on central nervous system (CNS) disorders, infectious diseases, immunology conditions, and rare diseases where there exists high unmet medical need.