Just off Red Road in South Miami, people who suffer from any number of ailmentsโfrom aches and pains to more-serious conditions like brain injuries and kidney diseaseโuse their own bodies to treat themselve
It happens inside the American Stem Cell Research Center, which celebrated the opening of a 3,500-square-foot regenerative medicine clinic in South Miami in 2017. There, patients use their own stem cells to alleviateโand sometimes eliminateโautoimmune, orthopedic, degenerative and even neurological conditions.ย
โYour body uses stem cells all day to keep you alive,โ says Michelle Parlo, the centerโs director of clinical operations. โYou canโt live an hour without functioning stem cells. What we do is take them from one place in the body and put them directly where we want them to be workingโlike the hip, elbow or foot.โ
Regenerative medicine is more than just harvesting healthy cells and transplanting them to inflamed areas; it also incorporates intravenous nutrition, diet counseling and blood samples. Through a blend of treatments, patients often are able to improve their quality of life and conquer chronic pain.
โWherever you have inflammation, your body calls for help,โ Parlo says. โStem cells work on whatโs most critical to keep you alive. If you didnโt get enough sleep or you drank too much, thatโs what theyโll be used for. Priority for healing chronic pain, like an old knee injury, gets moved to the back compared to what needs to be healed right away for survival.โ
Think of it as cleaning out a cluttered closet, Parlo says. โThereโs never enough time. Maybe if you had all the resources and some more time, those chronic issues would heal,โ she says. โAs children, thereโs not much to fix. But as you get older, everything takes more time and effort.โ
Parlo, who has worked in the field for more than four years, says the results can be life-changing. She says patients have begun walking after using wheelchairs, and multiple sclerosis patients have found new strength. One patient who had been struck by lightning, she says, regained some of his vision after repeated treatments.
All new patients receive a screening before their first treatment, in which the centerโs medical staff determines which therapies are best-suited for an individual. Once treatment begins, some patients experience side effects that include low-grade fever, lightheadedness and dizziness, Parlo says. Most treatments last for less than five minutes.
Treatments are not covered by insurance, however. Procedures average $6,000, but Parlo says the center offers payment and financing plans. โWe will do whatever we can to help someone get treated,โ she says.
The center, which also has offices in Dallas and Los Angeles, has treated thousands of patients since its 2001 opening, Parlo says. Last year, for example, retired professional basketball player John Salley sought treatment for ligament damage.
โStem cell treatments have gotten a lot more mainstream,โ she says. โThereโs a lot more research out there that supports what weโre doing. All weโre doing is giving the body some extra help and resources to rehabilitate areas of pain.โ
