Green Bay Packers great Ahman Green revealed on Wednesday that he’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease
Green made the revelation on the “Go Long” podcast with host Tyler Dunne. He told Dunne about his diagnosis as part of a conversation about his post-playing career and healthy lifestyle efforts
“Last year, I got diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s,” Green told Dunne. “I had a little bit of the feet twitching when I’m in my sleep and stuff like that
“I knew something was going on long before that. I just got a hold of some doctors that I was able to get in contact with. Get the diagnostics, get the testing. And finally got it tested last — it was January of 2025.”
Green said that he waited to go public with his diagnosis to communicate with his close family first
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“I didn’t share it for a long time because I wanted to let my kids know, my family,” Green continued. … “I let them all know first before I told friends, family, somebody like yourself.”
Green talks about symptoms, healthy lifestyle choices
Green, 49, told Dunne that he was focused on healthy living, including working out and nutrition in addition to taking medication to combat the symptoms of the disease
He said that in addition to twitching at night, he was dealing with short-term memory loss and walking and talking in his sleep. He said that his wife told him he’d been twitching in his sleep since shortly after his retirement from football in 2009
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Green is optimistic about his outlook and advocated for awareness and early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, particularly in the context of head trauma associated with football
“It needs to be up front,” Green continued. “It needs to be a topic that’s always hit. And it’s not the end all
“To me, I have a jump ahead of it. Just like anybody discovering that they have some type of cancer in their body, I’m ahead of it right now.”
After a standout college career at Nebraska, Green played 12 seasons as an NFL running back from 1998-2009. He played eight of those seasons with the Packers, with whom he made four Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team
Green is Green Bay’s all-time leading rusher with 8,322 yards. For his career, Green tallied 9,205 rushing yards, 2,883 receiving yards and 74 touchdowns from scrimmage with the Packers, Seahawks and Texans
