The Myofascial Genesis of Pain
Research Paper: Janet Travell, M.D., and Seymour Rinzler, M.D., published in 1952.
The original research paper was published in Postgraduate Medicine, Vol. 11 (May 1952), pp. 425-434. In her autobiography, “Office Hours, Day and Night,” Janet Travell wrote about her co-author, Seymour Rinzler:
In 1941, I extended my study of referred skeletal muscle pain to include patients at Beth Israel Hospital. That study was made feasible by a windfall in the person of Dr. Seymour H. Rinzler.1 He joined me as a volunteer full-time associate at both Sea View and Beth Israel Hospitals and in the Department of Pharmacology at Cornell. Having just completed his internship at Bellevue Hospital, he needed a year of research to qualify for the American Board specialty examinations in internal medicine.
Although we were strangers at the start, our relationship thrived. Interrupted only by Seymour’s Army service abroad during World War II, it continued until I left New York for Washington in 1961. His industry, persevering curiosity, and knowledge of the medical literature contributed largely to my research output and to my pleasure in it. We worked with the same enthusiasm when we had no special financial support as when I was principal investigator under grants from the National Heart Institute (1950-1957) and from the Josiah Macy, Jr Foundation (1952-1958).Our last two scientific papers appreared in 1960. We had collaborated then in twenty-four publications concerning various aspects of muscular pain, cardiovascular disorders, and the pharmacology of cardiac drugs.
Seymour H. Rinzler, M.D., F.A.C.P. (1915-1970)
American Physician, Beth Israel Hospital
Associate Visiting Physician, Bellevue Hospital
Instructor in Pharmacology, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York
Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine
Subspecialty, Cardiovascular Diseases