Hans Kraus was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1905. He attended medical school in Vienna and became an orthopedic surgeon. Fun fact: As a youth, Hans learned English from James Joyce (yes – the famous author!) and became one of the best mountain climbers of his era. 

Kraus practiced medicine in New York City along with another influential non-traditional doctor: John Sarno.

Dr. Kraus worked with President Dwight Eisenhower to establish the President’s Council on Physical Fitness in 1958. Hans Kraus became President Kennedy’s secret White House back doctor in October 1961.

We recently discovered that there was a book written about JFK’s back pain recovery - published not that long ago - in 2012:

President Kennedy had famously suffered from debilitating back pain much of his adult life and by 1961 he’d had three failed back surgeries…and the pain kept getting worse.

Like his contemporary John Sarno, Kraus believed that back pain was due to muscle tension in the back not the spine it...