Last year then NY Yankees pitcher, Bartolo Colon, received a dubious stem cell treatment in his home Dominican Republic. Colon seemed to bounce back from an injury after the stem cell treatment and some attributed this to his stem cell treatment. Other famous athletes including other pitchers and NFL players have since then also gotten similar treatments, despite no science supporting such treatments.
Another recent case is that of aging MLB pitcher C.J. Nitkowski (pictured above getting stem cells injected into him; photo credit CNN), who received a stem cell treatment that he hopes will allow him to continue his career.
Could these dubious stem cell treatments work? I strongly doubt it.
So what might have spurred Colon’s sudden improvement in pitching?
Today we found a possible answer: testosterone.
Colon was suspended from MLB today for 50 days for steroid use.
Busted.
Are dubious stem cell “treatments” just another form of doping like steroids or are they medicine? These questions also apply to other sports and including, as I reported, the Olympics for athletes such as Usain Bolt.