Stem cells in Glendale, AZ: where can you get the joint checked?

Which clinic is nearest Glendale?

For much of Glendale, the nearest non-surgical joint pain clinic is QC Kinetix (Peoria), at 13128 N. 94th Drive, Suite 205. Loop 101 is just east of the clinic on Thunderbird Road.

The clinic is about nine miles from Historic Downtown Glendale and about six miles from Arrowhead. Your drive will vary with traffic and where you begin.

Call (602) 837-PAIN to reach the Phoenix-area locations.

What happens during the visit?

The medical provider, which is the clinic's general title for a licensed examiner, asks you to point to the sore area. That title doesn't promise the examiner is a doctor, so ask about the person's license.

The exam checks sore spots, swelling, strength, and how far the joint moves. QC Kinetix may then discuss regenerative treatments, which are clinic procedures using prepared material from your body in the sore joint.

There is no charge for the first visit. The examiner may also tell you that a treatment isn't right for your joint.

What is worth asking before you choose?

Have the staff name the material going into your joint and the person doing the procedure. Find out what the first days may involve and request the full price, including later visits.

Choose one daily activity you miss, such as a walk or an easy stair climb. Ask when the clinic normally checks that activity again, since the answer depends on the exact procedure.

You can take the information home and think it over.

Sources

1. FDA states in its consumer alert that the only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood, approved for disorders of the blood-forming system, and that NONE of these products - stem cells, stromal vascular fraction, umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly or amniotic fluid - has been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, including osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain or shoulder pain.

   US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research — Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes. , 2020.

2. A phase III double-blind placebo-controlled trial in 261 patients with Kellgren-Lawrence grade 3 knee osteoarthritis tested a single injection of autologous culture-expanded adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells - a product that cannot legally be sold outside a clinical trial in the United States because culture expansion is more than minimal manipulation.

   Kim KI, et al. — Clinical Efficacy and Safety of the Intra-articular Injection of Autologous Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Am J Sports Med, 2023. DOI: 10.1177/03635465231179223.

3. A 2023 appraisal of 15 randomized and 11 non-randomized trials of culture-expanded MSCs for knee osteoarthritis found function improved relative to control in 11 of 15 RCTs and cartilage protection or repair reported in 18 of 21 imaging studies, but noted the total sample of 610 patients limits any definitive conclusion.

   Copp G, et al. — Culture-expanded mesenchymal stromal cell therapy: does it work in knee osteoarthritis? A pathway to clinical success. Cell Mol Immunol, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41423-023-01020-1.

4. Global Burden of Disease data show osteoarthritis age-standardised prevalence rose 9.3 percent between 1990 and 2017 and years lived with disability rose 9.6 percent, with prevalence higher in women and rising with age.

   Safiri S, et al. — Global, regional and national burden of osteoarthritis 1990-2017: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Ann Rheum Dis, 2020. DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-216515.