By Crystal Lindell

Ella Emhoff, the 25-year old stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, recently revealed that she has chronic back pain and shared a list of ways that she tries to address it. 

It’s a move that could give a boost to patient advocacy, especially if her stepmother moves into the White House.

Emhoff’s social media posts about pain and her lengthy list of potential treatments have gotten some pushback in the media, in part because one of the things Emhoff advocates for is ketamine infusions for chronic pain. The anesthetic has been a hot topic recently for its role in the drowning death of actor Matthew Perry. Last week prosecutors brought charges against five people who helped supply Perry with ketamine. 

Emhoff shared her chronic pain story via Instagram, where she has nearly 400,000 followers, writing that she was born with a tethered spine, which caused her back to not properly lengthen when she was growing up. That, in turn, caused kyphosis, an abnormally formed spine also known as a “hunchback.”

Emhoff said she was in and out of doctors’ offices for physical therapy for most of her adolescence, and then eventually got lower back surgery, which led to her growing taller. But she still has chronic back pain. 

After receiving a lot of responses to sharing her story, she then followed-up by sharing a link to a Google Doc list of pain management options, which she calls “The Big Pain Management List.” 

“Alright the responses have been COMING IN HOT. It's actually very comforting seeing how many people can relate to chronic pain and also very sad," Emhoff wrote, sharing a disclaimer about her list.

"These are all just recommendations made to me. These should not be taken as medical advice. I am just a girl tryna feel less pain."

Emhoff’s list is broken down into six categories: devices, topicals, exercises, lifestyle changes and books. Most of the recommendations are probably common knowledge to anyone who's been dealing with chronic pain. But the list still offers a good, well-organized resource for anyone looking for new or old ideas to relieve pain. 

Under devices, she includes a firm mattress and red light therapy pad. For topicals, she suggests lidocaine patches and salt baths. Under exercises, Emhoff includes things like weighted squats and pilates. For lifestyle, she recommends things like shorter work days, “weed” and an anti-inflammatory diet. 

The therapies column is where she lists ketamine infusions, as well as somatic therapy and EDMR therapy. Under books, she recommends “The Pain Management Workbook" and “The Way Out.”

Personally, I find it a little disappointing that Emhoff never mentions one of the most effective pain treatments we have: opioid-based pain medication. It’s not as though she was worried about being controversial, given her inclusion of ketamine therapy. Perhaps opioids aren’t helpful for her, but they are helpful for millions of others dealing with chronic pain. 

Regardless, I’m always glad to see anyone with influence drawing awareness to the suffering those of us with chronic pain endure. My hope is that she will be able to push her powerful stepmom to advocate for broader access to some of her recommendations, such as ketamine and cannabis. 

Of course, because of Emhoff’s visibility and political connections, some publications covered her pain management suggestions as though they were controversial.  

The Daily Mail headline read: “Kamala Harris' woke step daughter pushes ketamine and shorter working days in excruciating Gen Z rant.”

The New York Post headline read: "VP Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff pushes ketamine, ‘shorter work days’ in ‘pain management’ rant."

It’s a little disappointing to see those types of headlines around the topic of chronic pain. My guess is that many of Emhoff’s followers suffer from chronic pain, and many of them may even benefit from her recommendations. But headlines like that can scare people away from trying treatments like ketamine, which is normally used for depression but some people find very useful treating some types of chronic pain. 

Thankfully, Emhoff has the ability to reach out to pain patients directly through her social media. So even if other media entities try to frame her suggestions in a poor light, she’s still able to get her message out to those who need it.