During her career, Travell pioneered techniques for the treatment of
myofascial pain, including
dry needling. Her career began with her educational pursuits at
Wellesley College and continued in graduate school as she pursued an M.D. from
Cornell University Medical College in
New York City. Upon graduating in 1926, Travell completed two years of residency at
New York Hospital while concurrently serving as an ambulance surgeon for the New York City police force. After completion of residency, Travell became a research fellow at
Bellevue Hospital, where she studied the effects of
digitalis in patients with
lobar pneumonia. Once her fellowship was concluded, Travell returned to
Cornell University to serve as instructor in the Department of Pharmacology and later as Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacology. While working for Cornell, she also acted as a cardiology consultant for
Sea View Hospital in
Staten Island. Travell accepted a Josiah Macy, Jr. Fellowship at
Beth Israel Hospital in New York to study arterial disease from 1939 to 1941. It was during her tenure that she first became interested in skeletal
muscle pain, which defined her later career. Her research produced new anesthetic techniques for the treatment of painful
back muscle spasms that proved very successful among patients. Travell's techniques included the use of a local
procaine injection and
vapocoolant sprays to relieve pain. The sprays are still popular in
sports medicine treatments today. It was her success with alleviating skeletal muscle pain that resulted in Travell being the first female personal
Physician to the President. Travell was called upon by the personal orthopedic surgeon of Senator John F. Kennedy to assist with back pain treatments. Kennedy suffered from terrible pain possibly resulting from invasive back surgeries related to injuries sustained during
World War II. When Kennedy won the
presidential election in 1960, he appointed her as his personal physician. Her treatments included the use of a
rocking chair with a matching rocking ottoman to help alleviate back pain, in the process popularizing their use among the public, who saw the President pictured in his rocker in the Oval Office. She continued to serve as Personal Physician to the President following the
assassination of John F. Kennedy, with his successor
Lyndon B. Johnson. She continued through Johnson's re-election, but decided to leave the White House in 1965. While serving as the President's personal physician, Travell also took on the role of Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the
George Washington University in 1961. Even after leaving the White House, she continued teaching at the university as a faculty member for the School of Medicine. She occupied positions as Associate Clinical Professor 1961–1970, Emeritus Clinical Professor of Medicine 1970–1988, and Honorary Clinical Professor of Medicine from 1988 until her death in 1997. Travell remained active in the medical field until the end: writing articles, giving lectures, and attending conferences. == Research ==