Riordan-McKenna Institute

I have suffered with shoulder pain for six years. After seeking advise from multiple orthopedic doctors in the area, Dr. McKenna recommended a non invasive option to deal with my shoulder issues.
I am impressed with his diagnosis and implementation of biological therapy to tackle this nagging pain that has prevented me from living comfortably for the last several years.
Thank you to the medical staff at RMI for your professional and welcoming treatment. I’m just glad to be back on my feet again and thankfully pain free for the last year.

Two words come to mind: DISMISSIVE and UNFEELING. Beware of any doctor who treats you the way that Dr. McKenna and his staff treated my wife. Here is our story: My wife has had pain in her right arm for a few years and has been through the ringer medically. Recently, a well-​known sports orthopedic surgeon in Austin says he can perform an acromioplasty to give her a chance at relief from her painful shoulder impingement since cortisone injections aren’t working. Dr. McKenna appears to disagree, but we’ll never know why or on what basis since we received NO CALL after he reviewed her medical history and MRI. Instead, we received a FORM LETTER that wasn’t even properly addressed to the patient. If that’s how you want to be treated, then Dr. McKenna is your guy.
A coworker recommended that we look into the stem cell enriched procedures and surgeries performed by Dr. Wade McKenna at the Riordan-​McKenna Institute. We watched the video of Dr. McKenna explaining how stem cells help with healing from surgery and decided to fill out the application online. Within a day we received a call in the evening that I would refer to as a sales pitch for the «biologics» (stem cell harvesting from bone marrow) that is not covered by insurance and costs about $ 5,500 extra. We understood that, so we followed the instructions and sent my wife’s MRI in for Dr. McKenna to review along with her entire relevant medical history which we had painstakingly detailed in the online application.
We expected to get a call to visit the doctor in person, but I found out later that even my coworker never saw the doctor until his procedure. His rotator cuff injury was obvious enough from imaging that Dr. McKenna was apparently willing to communicate with him and schedule him for a procedure. Perhaps Dr. McKenna is only taking blatantly obvious cases in order to boost his success rate. Why would he want to dilute his sample of patients or reduce his odds of securing another large invoice when it would require ACTUALLY SEEING A PATIENT to perform a clinical diagnosis and see if there is something that wasn’t immediately obvious on film.
You can see the form letter in the uploaded images, and the text is below for all to see that Dr. McKenna is comfortable being dismissive and unfeeling toward patients who reach out to him for help if he doesn’t see an easy fix. Dr. McKenna doesn’t believe he can treat my wife’s condition, and apparently he also doesn’t have any respect for her as a human. Dr. McKenna would have been very willing to take our money for a stem cell procedure, but he couldn’t be bothered to even have a member of his staff call to explain what he saw in the MRI that led him to a conclusion that contradicts her existing diagnosis.
The diagnosing surgeon in Austin has shown a great amount of compassion and has taken extra time to observe the clinical presentation of her pain. He has tried other methods of treatment and concluded that surgery gives her a chance at relief from pain. That stands in STARK CONTRAST to the way that my wife was summarily dismissed by Dr. McKenna.
For the record, here is the exact wording of the form letter sent by Dr. McKenna’s office:
«Dear,
Dr. McKenna has reviewed the information you sent us and determined that we cannot treat the condition (s) about which you inquired. He doesn’t see a treatable diagnosis.
Wishing you the best in seeking treatment.
Thank you,
Dusty Taylor»