The Boot Camps Treating Kids’ Pain

2025-12-15

Are “boot camp” clinics that treat kids and teenagers with chronic pain symptoms helping or inflicting more damage on patients who have trouble advocating for themselves? Guest: Isobel Whitcomb, science journalist based in Portland, Oregon. If you want to support more of this reporting, in 2026 and beyond, consider signing up for Slate Plus. You’ll enjoy ad-free listening across the Slate network, early access to tickets for live events, and you’ll never hit the paywall on the site.

Are “boot camp” clinics that treat kids and teenagers with chronic pain symptoms helping or inflicting more damage on patients who have trouble advocating for themselves?

Guest: Isobel Whitcomb, science journalist based in Portland, Oregon.

If you want to support more of this reporting, in 2026 and beyond, consider signing up for Slate Plus. You’ll enjoy ad-free listening across the Slate network, early access to tickets for live events, and you’ll never hit the paywall on the site.

We’re on a mission to get 100 people to join Slate Plus before the new year—and we’re even offering a 50-percent-off deal to folks who join us right now. Visit Slate.com/whatnextplus and use the code WHATNEXT50 to get a year of Slate Plus for $59.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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