Should we inject your toe or give you a stem cells transplant?

By: Bob | September 5th, 2007

For reasons that I can hardly explain, the powers that be in the football world always insist on playing international matches mere weeks after the leagues in Europe get underway. Talk about a buzzkill. We wait all summer for the leagues to resume and once they all do we are forced to spend a week reading stories about whether or not Steven Gerrard should or shouldn’t get an injection in his crocked toe so he can play for England in Euro 2008 qualifying.

For that is the big story that seems to be getting the most press on this international week Wednesday. It is a story that might have a new twist in the future. Instead of talking about injecting players with drugs we might be talking about having players undergo a stem cell transplant.

Some sports clubs in Australia are mulling the possibility of storing their players’ stem cells to help them come back quicker from serious injuries.

Stem cells would be taken from bone marrow in a player’s spine in a half-hour procedure done under local anaesthetic. Scientists would then separate the stem cells into a sub-group called mesenchymal precursor cells, and grow them in the laboratory for six weeks. The stem cells would then be stored in a cell bank, ready to be transplanted should an injury occur. The process is estimated to cost about $20,000 per player.

Who knew that creepy medical technology could be had for such a bargain? I’m hoping to acquire the stem cells of Ernest Hemingway and injecting them into the part of my brain that falls to recognize proper use of grammar.

As for Gerrard, it is probably too late for him to undergo a stem cell transplant in time for Saturday’s match against Israel, but he still tap in to the children of footballers stem cell bank for future injuries.