Issue #337: Can Stem Cell Therapy Save your Joints?
Good morning. It’s Thursday, May 2nd.
Stat of the Day
The percentage of web sites selling “stem cell therapy” with at least one statement of misinformation. The average was 4.65 misleading claims. (source)
Learn
The Reality of Stem Cell Therapy
Ever wish you were a professional athlete - just so you could get access to all the training and medical care.
I think about how Kevin Durant tore his achilles tendon - which for some of us ends our athletic career - yet just completed one of his best NBA seasons at the age of 36.
Or how the late Kobe Bryant would travel to Germany for knee surgery from a doctor who specialized in “manipulating a patient’s blood.”
In our previous issue we talked about stem cells. We lose stem cells as we get older - it’s actually one of the “hallmarks of aging.”
But what about stem cell therapy? That is using our own or donor stem cells to rejuvenate our body??
There is a ton of potential here (see how long athletes are sticking around as some unofficial proof), but there’s still a lot we don’t know about stem cell therapy.
In the U.S., stem cell therapy - most often in the form of bone marrow transplants - is only legal for leukemia and other blood cancers.
These therapies can be life-saving. But they’re not easy. Patients often undergo radiation or chemotherapy to kill the cancerous cells and then have bone marrow extracted and returned into your blood.
Some people can do this with their own supply, but others might need a donor. This can be even more challenging as the patient requires treatment to remove their own stem cells before getting the new ones.
According to WashU in St. Louis - there’s no shortage of side effects (but again - it could be life-saving).
The FDA also recently approved a new therapy with stem cells from umbilical cord blood, combined with Vitamin B3 to boost a patient’s immune function - which gets crushed during cancer treatments.
What about stem cells for injuries?
Again, there is real promise here. The term is “biologics” - that is using our own body to heal itself.
But are they really stem cells?
Considered one of the leading researchers on stem cells - Arnold Caplan - suggests that most of what we call stem cells don’t have the ability to change from one cell type to another. He named mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), but now wishes he didn’t.
Adam Cohen MD - an orthopedic surgeon with stints working with the Yankees, the US Open and NYC Ballet - agrees it’s often not the stem cells we’re getting.
When we cut our finger - platelets race to the scene and soon our skin is good as new.
So what’s often happening is we spin our blood to create platelet-rich plasma (PRP) without the red and white blood cells and inject this into the injury. We can also use fat.
He says that PRP is great for tennis elbow and fat is helpful for knee recovery. But oddly enough these therapies have different effectiveness for different joints - and we don’t know why.
So it might not be “healing” the ligament - if it’s not a stem cell it can’t just become a ligament cell - but it does improve symptoms. And it’s way better than being stuck always taking cortisone shots.
There are thousands of “stem cell clinics” out there and the marketing is beyond the reality (see Stat of the Day). They may not be using “stem cells” - since it’s not FDA-approved they probably aren’t - and, again, we still don’t know how stem cell therapy works.
If you’re dealing with an injury - definitely look into PRP or other transplant (bone marrow, fat) options. Just be prepared to get a 2nd, 3rd, and maybe even a 4th opinion before you spend thousands of dollars from an unreputable clinic.
Try
Loosen Your Shoulders
Our shoulders are ripe for injury - from throwing a baseball with our kids, to playing golf, to doing push-ups, to just sitting hunched over all day and becoming a “C.”
One easy exercise to prevent shoulder problems (and the need for stem cell therapy) that you can do anywhere - a Wall Hang.
I’ve got some work to do on keeping my arms straight!
Bend over so your body is parallel to the ground and hands flat on a wall in front of you. Rotate the inside of your elbows up to the sky and hold for 10 seconds - expand your core as you breath on each slow count.
Something you can literally do anywhere at any time during the day.
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In the News
The HPV Vaccine: HPV is the most common STI - sexually active men (90%) and women (80%) tend to become infected. Men, without the threat of cancer, avoid the vaccine, but it can still affect male fertility. (Big Think)
Flexibility Unleashed: Incorporating stretches into your daily routine significantly improves flexibility and overall mobility. But it’s so hard to get going and make it stick. Start with these 10 stretches. (Source)
The Real Italian Diet: Home to one of 6 Blue Zones, world-renowned biochemist Valter Longo questions Italy’s departure from the Mediterranean diet for the Italian-American one. He’s got his own views to live past 100. (NYTimes)
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