Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi using stem cell therapy to regrow cartilage
2 November 2009Pioneering metal guitarist Tony Iommi owes at least part of the Black Sabbath sound to the fact that he lost two fingertips in an industrial accident when he was a teenager. Rather than give up playing guitar he fashioned artificial plastic- later leather-covered – fingertips and kept on strumming. He still uses them today.
Now into his 60s, Iommi has experienced cartilage degradation due to the repeptitive strain of rockin’ out all these years. But he claims he’s undergoing adult stem cell therapy to regrow some of that cartilage.
There have been successes in using adult (as opposed to the fetal ones that still freak some people out) stem cells to grow replacement knee and windpipe cartilage. And see that first link for a mention of new procedures on how stem cells are guided to areas that need cartilage regrowth.
Good luck to Iommi.
