Amen Clinic Offering Free Brain Scans for Independent Study on NFL Brain Injuries!
Here’s your personal invitation from Dr. Kristen Willeumier from the Amen Clinics to arrange an appointment to receive your free brain scan for their new study specifically focused on NFL football players’ concussions. NOTE: This study is completely independent of the NFL and the NFLPA.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Daniel Amen has led a dedicated team of medical professionals to help people overcome depression, anxiety, ADHD, memory problems, brain injuries, weight problems, and more. The Amen Clinics uses sophisticated brain imaging tools for a more thorough and accurate diagnosis. We use all the tools available to us to help optimize the brain, including natural supplements and medications to help people live happy and productive lives.
The Amen Clinics in Newport Beach is currently conducting a study investigating the effects of mild traumatic brain injury in professional football players. Using sophisticated imaging techniques our goal is to visualize the brains of NFL players to characterize the damage incurred by playing professional football. We will also utilize neurocognitive exams to identify any underlying deficits in memory. Following the initial tests, the player will meet with Dr. Amen personally to discuss the results and he will recommend a specific protocol of nutritional supplements for that player to help optimize his brain health. We invite the player to return to the Amen Clinics following 2 months on the protocol to see what progress has been made. This entire process is at no cost to the player. We appreciate their participation in this groundbreaking study and the Amen Clinics is dedicated to providing those players who have dedicated their lives to football with an opportunity to bring their brains to a healthier state!
If you are interested in participating in this study or if you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Kristen Willeumier (949-266-3703) at the Amen Clinics (click HERE to visit their website).
Kristen Willeumier, Ph.D.
Director of Nutraceuticals and Nutrition
docwilleumier@amenclinics.com Amen Clinics, Inc. 4019 Westerly Place, Suite 100 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Direct: 949-266-3703 Fax: 949-266-3794
Dr. Daniel Amen
And here’s more on Dr. Daniel Amen – click HERE.
Bob Grant
September 11th, 2009 at 12:13 PM #
I strongly recommend that you consider participating in the Amen study, if you can. I and a number of other Retired Players have already gone in.
If you played in the NFL, you almost certainly suffered brain trauma to some degree, at one time or another. The way that we used to hit each other caused some damage to each of us whether the NFL and the NFLPA wants to admit it or not.
Gather your own facts on the effects of the contact and hitting that you were involved in.
I didn’t like some of the things that my scan showed but I now understand and have actually seen the damage that I experienced in the NFL Wars.
Small things like a temper that is a bit too quick and other little things involving perception and behavior in your daily life could well be attributable to contact and collisions that you were involved in during your playing career. Some of those migraine, balance and other problems that you have had with your vision and memory might just show up and be explained by your scan.
There is help, fellas, and in this case it’s free to us at the Amen Clinic.
Why wait for the Autopsy for you and your family to find out?
Bob Grant,
Independent Retired Player Activist/Advocate
D.D. Lewis
September 11th, 2009 at 12:35 PM #
Dave,
I went down and had my brain scan at the Amen Clinic. They told me my brain look like a bad neighborhood and that I don’t need to go in there alone.
Keep up the work!
D.D. Lewis
Dallas Cowboys 1968 – 1981
Dave Pear
September 11th, 2009 at 6:12 PM #
Dear Dr. Amen & Dr. Willeumier,
Thank you for your study and investigation of these serious and life changing injuries!
Head and brain injuries are a way of life for many retired NFL players. The NFL desperately does not want this dark secret to become public.
The tobacco industry for years claimed that cigarettes were not dangerous to your health. However, that is no longer the case.
Under a law signed by President Barack Obama on June 22 – the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act – tobacco companies will be required to cover 50 percent of the front and rear panels of cigarette packages with color graphics showing what happens when you smoke and bold, specific labels saying such things as: “WARNING: Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease.” “WARNING: Tobacco smoke can harm your children.” “WARNING: Smoking can kill you.”
The NFL rarely even recognizes the broken knees, hips, shoulders, necks, backs. etc… of retired players that sacrificed their bodies for the business of football. The current disability system is a complete debacle and they make it virtually impossible for disabled players and their families to access their earned benefits.
The programs that are currently in place for retired players are gibberish and whitewash in an attempt to mislead Congress.
In fact, Chairwoman Linda Sanchez said, “The NFL is considered to be the most brutal major American professional sports League.” According to page six of the NFLPA “White Paper”, only 317 players currently receive any type of NFL Disability Benefit. Former NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw said, “there are over 13,000 retired NFL players alive today.” Using these calculations that is only 2 percent of retired NFL players?
Neither the NFL nor the NFLPA keeps data on players who retire due to injury. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., who chairs the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, told ESPN.com. “Sometimes you don’t keep track of something when you don’t want to know what the answers are.”
History shows how the tobacco industry stonewalled and denied the dangers of cigarettes as long as they could.
The NFL is following this same scheme of denial for head and brain injuries players receive from playing football.
This independent study at the Amen Clinic will help make transparent the fact that football is hazardous to your health at any level. Parents should count the cost of allowing their children to participate in this dangerous game.
In my opinion, every NFL contract signed by a perspective player should have a WARNING that clearly explains the physical and mental dangers of this brutal business.
Football is hazardous to your health!
I strongly encourage retired players to contact Dr. Willeumier and make an appointment for this valuable examination of your brain.
Thank you,
Dave & Heidi Pear
Thane Gash
September 13th, 2009 at 3:01 AM #
I don’t believe it is independent. I assume it is business as usual. The NFLPA is trying to back-door the test that should have been take a long time ago. THANK YOU!
Thane Gash
Cleveland Browns (1988-1991)
San Francisco 49ers (1992-1993)
Marvin Cobb
September 13th, 2009 at 9:42 AM #
Anthony Davis, my friend and former great USC tailback from the early 70′s is the one who found Dr. Amen and introduced him to me. I invited him to the Las Vegas summit. Neither Anthony nor I are members of the NFLPA, so Dr. Amen’s study is truly independent. I don’t blame you, Thane, for being skeptical, but Dr. Amen is legit.
There are three things that I’ve learned from Dr. Amen’s study, and yes, I’ve been to the clinic and had my brain scanned too. The first thing that I learned was that the human skull is not smooth and flat on the inside like it is on the outside. It’s got sharp ridges all around the inside, particularly across the front underneath the forehead. The second thing I learned is that the brain is not “anchored” inside your skull, and that the consistency of your brain is close to jello or tofu, so that every time you head butt – intentionally or accidentally – you cause your brain to crash into the sharp ridges inside your skull, causing microscopic damage. The third thing that I learned is that certain vitamins and supplements can help reverse the damage caused by concussions and brain injury.
One last note… at the Las Vegas Summit, I discovered the number one reason retired players have their disability application denied: Despite the degenerative nature of many of our ailments, to successfully qualify for NFL disability, you have to first be unemployed. That means that despite the extensive methods we have used over the years to manage our pain enough to work and provide for our families, in order to get the disability benefits we now need and deserve, we have to lose everything first and be unemployed in order to qualify. For me personally, my broken neck (which the team doctor said was a “stinger”) and my turf toe didn’t feel this bad when I “retired” at age 27. However, by the time I got to 40, I realized that I would never be able to do some of things I had always been able to do, and that I wouldn’t be able to work and earn as I had in the past. But I still had a wife and child in school that needed my financial support. The NFL “neutral” doctor said I was at least 80% disabled, but I was still working (barely) to pay the bills, so my disability was denied. They want us living under a bridge or on a park bench before we can get disability benefits, and pride, responsibility and pain medication so far outweigh that option.
Marvin Cobb
Dave Pear
September 13th, 2009 at 10:18 AM #
Thane,
You have every reason NOT to trust the NFL or the NFLPA. By their actions, they have proven to be ruthless enemies towards retired players!
The history of Gene Upshaw exposes the fact that he did everything in his power to divide and conquer us.
However, this blog was started in February of 2008 and its purpose was to bring transparency to the fraud and conflicts of interest that are pervasive throughout the league and expose it to Congress, the media and fellow retired players.
Please review the comments I made in this post. Do they sound like someone who is compromising the truth?
I am going to the Amen clinic because I want to be a part of this independent and historic study that will help expose the harmful effects of repeated head injuries.
Look at the credentials of the Amen clinic!
Dr. Amen & Dr. Willeumier are not golfing buddies with the Commissioner or the Executive Director of the NFLPA. Nor are they trying to curry favor with them.
Dr. Amen & Dr. Willeumier were both at the 2009 Independent Retired Football Players Summit in May. Dr. Amen gave a dynamic discourse on head injuries and this new study he is undertaking with retired NFL players.
This examination is something ALL football players (retired & active) should undergo. It will give all of us a clearer picture of where we are cognitively and how we process information. Also, it will help shed light on short term memory loss, depression and show any signs of early onset dementia along with many more important functions of the brain.
The Amen Clinic will then also map out a proactive action plan that will address these injuries and schedule a return visit in 2 months.
If the NFL or the NFLPA had ANY involvement in this study I would adamantly NOT be involved!
This is a study that is being conducted by QUALIFIED medical doctors and Ph.D.’s (in the United States) with no ties to the NFL.
I agree – the NFL is notorious for cunning schemes that undermine the truth but this is not one of them.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any other pertinent questions. We can even refer you to other retired players who have already been examined.
Sincerely,
Dave & Heidi Pear
Gern Nagler
September 13th, 2009 at 5:09 PM #
I actually had my first scan and tests at the Amen Clinic in early June. I returned in late August for a second scan and tests. During this period, I took several supplements recommended by Dr. Amen. After the second test, my memory had improved. What has really improved are my aches and pains. I had been taking Celebrex and Tylenol for my arthritis. Since taking the supplements, I no longer take either! I have never been so pain-free.
Dr. Amen is attempting to prove the damage done from playing football and its long-term effects. I also highly recommend all retirees take advantage of Dr. Amen’s generous offer. It really is all cost-free other than the cost of getting there.
Gern Nagler
1953 – 1961
Chicago Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns
Thane Gash
September 15th, 2009 at 3:21 PM #
I’m not even trying to get disability but I know I should have received it. I signed a waiver of release and will always have to live with that fact. I believe if the NFLPA had protected my interests as much as they do about the drug use, then maybe I would be receiving some benefits.
I’m glad to hear this is an independent study. Thanks for the extra information.
Thane Gash
Cleveland Browns (1988-1991)
San Francisco 49ers (1992-1993)
Harry Carson on the Amen Clinics | Independent Retired Football Players Summit
September 24th, 2009 at 11:38 PM #
[...] HERE to contact the Amen [...]