As you know, I review local practices involved in using stem cells as it’s very difficult for patients to understand how to determine quality in this space. One that recently came on my radar is a chiropractic clinic going by the name of “Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies”. Let’s dig in.
What is Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies?
This is a chiropractic clinic located in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The clinic has two websites, one which has the same name as the business on the outside of the clinic which is “Primary Care and Chiropractic”. Their chiropractic office offers typical services such as chiropractic manipulations, acupuncture, and massage. There is a separate website for Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies. The only difference between the two seems to be that the RMR website has a nurse that performs “stem cell” injections.
What Type of Stem Cells Does Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies Use?
This is where things go off the rails for this clinic. They claim to be injecting mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from umbilical cords. From the clinic’s website:
“At Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies, the health care providers use mesenchymal stem cells that come from the umbilical cord of a healthy, live-birth donor who has been screened ahead of time and wishes to donate these important cells. They work closely with Predictive Biotech, a well-respected regenerative medicine company.”
Regrettably, the research published on these products clearly shows that despite what many clinics and manufacturers claim, they don’t actually contain live and functional MSCs (1-3). For example, check out the testing we had done at the CSU Translational Medicine institute below:
On the left are 5 common umbilical cord products used by clinics that all claim that they have live and viable MSCs. In this test, the purple dots represent stem cell colonies and all-white means no living MSCs. All of the umbilical cord products on the left had no living MSCs. On the right, you see the MSCs in the bone marrow of middle-aged and elderly patients. Yes, older bone marrow has plenty of stem cells while these products do not. Hence, based on the published and presented literature, Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies is not being honest here about what they’re injecting.
To learn more, watch my video below:
A Nurse for Injections
Another issue at Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies is that this is a chiropractic clinic that uses a nurse to perform injections. The issue here is that placing stem cells or anything else in the damaged areas of the shoulder, knee, ankle, spine, or other body parts involves highly complex imaged guided procedures. For more info, please see my video below:
I’ve written a small book that goes over everything you should be looking for to get quality regenerative medicine care. Click on the book cover below to download that book:
The upshot? Regenerative Medicine of the Rockies is a chiropractic clinic that is not injecting live and functional umbilical cord stem cells. It’s also injecting patients without a specialist physician. Read my book above to get a sense of what else you’re missing out on with this clinic.
(2) Becktell L, Matuska A, Hon S, Delco M, Cole B, Fortier L. Proteomic analysis and cell viability of nine amnion-derived biologics. Orthopedic Research Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 2018. https://app.box.com/s/vcx7uw17gupg9ki06i57lno1tbjmzwaf
(3) Panero, A, Hirahara, A., Andersen, W, Rothenberg J, Fierro, F. Are Amniotic Fluid Products Stem Cell Therapies? A Study of Amniotic Fluid Preparations for Mesenchymal Stem Cells With Bone Marrow Comparison. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2019 47(5), 1230–1235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546519829034
