The Stem Cell Shot I Almost Took

When I set out on my personal longevity journey, I experimented with all the tests and treatments and supplements to learn which might help me live longer and better. Longevity trends come and go, and I could never have guessed which ones would last.

Back then, stem cells were all the rage, promising to save our lives.

Stem cells are non-specific building blocks of life. These basic cells can be copied and transformed into many types of cells, like bone, muscle, or nerve.

My first encounter with stem cells was at a longevity clinic that I assumed was run by medical doctors. Wrong. Holistic practitioners staffed it.

By the end of my visit, they encouraged me to inject stem cells into my right shoulder to repair some pain I'd been living with. There was no MRI, no lengthy analysis. It felt like they were saying, "Just fork over $8,000."

I walked out.

Clinics typically draw stem cells from your own fat or bone marrow, spin them down to concentrate, and inject them into the painful spot in the hopes that they'll repair damage or calm inflammation.

Later, I walked into a coffee shop in Palm Beach and, as luck would have it, sat down next to an orthopedic surgeon. He had been one of the leading doctors treating ballet dancers in New York City. This was a guy who knew what he was doing.

Injecting stem cells into a shoulder, he said, is like shooting them into the wind. The shoulder is a complicated tangle of muscles, tendons, and joints. Fixing it takes precision and a real diagnosis, not a shot and a prayer.

Also consider that stem cell injections carry risks, including infection, pain flare-ups, and, in unregulated clinics, could result in other complications.

After an MRI, I discovered my problem was inflammation.

I changed how I ate, swam more, and integrated some new morning stretches. The pain in my right shoulder disappeared, no needle required.

So I wondered: what happened to the trendy stem cell miracle? Has science caught up, or has it moved on?

In the U.S., stem cells are approved mainly to rebuild blood and immune systems. We need them for treatments like bone marrow transplants, or for a handful of rare genetic diseases. Those approvals require legitimate clinical studies and trials.

Meanwhile, thousands of clinics worldwide, including an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 in the U.S. alone, sell unapproved stem cell treatments for sports injuries, brain diseases, and everything in between.

Patients commonly pay between $1,200 and $50,000. Sometimes they're told they are joining a clinical trial.

For shoulders and knees, there's no solid proof that stem cell injections actually rebuild anything.

Many injections contain only a few true stem cells. But even good ones don't know where to go or what to become once they're squirted into a joint. My surgeon friend was right.

Still, the treatment has gained high-profile endorsements. In 2025, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on a podcast that he had received unproven stem cell treatments in Antigua for spasmodic dysphonia, a vocal disorder that affects his speech.

Even so, the FDA has been surprisingly effective at cracking down on clinics selling unapproved treatments, according to a September column in STAT by Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell biologist at UC Davis.

Stem cell therapies need more laboratory work before they can make a broad contribution to longevity. True stem cell research is slower and more precise, but it is far more promising.

Parkinson's disease is a great example of a condition that might benefit from stem cells. In 2025, two early trials showed that brain cells grown from stem cells, which were transplanted into patients, were safe and helped them produce dopamine. Parkinson's destroys the brain cells that make it. Some patients showed improvement in movement.

This summer, a European trial reported that six of the seven patients followed for a year were able to cut back their Parkinson's medication after receiving the stem cell treatment.

These stem cells were tested in tightly controlled trials and placed with surgical precision into a very specific part of the brain. This is the opposite of a dubious clinic offering a shot into a sore shoulder.

But even with those results, the Parkinson's Foundation says stem cells are not yet a proven treatment. It adds that a legitimate clinical trial should never charge you to take part.

Stem cells weren't a false promise. They were a premature solution to complex problems. The miracle may come, but only through careful science.

It isn't being sold in a strip mall.

As for me, I'm grateful I went for coffee with the surgeon that day.

We just celebrated an amazing weekend at the Livelong Women’s Health Summit in New York. The connection, learning, and support for one another were amazing. We are thrilled to announce that we will be returning to Dallas in January 2027. Click the link to join us in Texas.