PHASE 1 - CURRENT PHASE
Fundraising & Awareness
Building the Foundation
The primary objective of Phase 1 is to raise $20,000,000 in combined philanthropic and institutional funding — the amount required to execute a 400-participant, multi-arm, multi-modal imaging clinical trial at the level of scientific rigor needed to drive federal policy change. This covers comprehensive diagnostic imaging for all participants at four timepoints, direct participant treatment across all three arms, qualified research personnel, regulatory compliance infrastructure, participant travel and support, and the full publication and dissemination process. Alongside fundraising, Phase 1 is focused on building the coalition of organizational endorsements and research partnerships that will give this study the institutional credibility it needs when the findings are published.
Phase 1 is also the awareness phase — the period during which the study's existence, its purpose, and its potential impact are being communicated to the communities that have the most at stake in its outcome. The veterans, operators, athletes, families, advocates, clinicians, and policymakers who need to know this study exists are being reached now, so that when the findings arrive, they land in a field that has been prepared to receive them. Phase 1 is complete when the $20M fundraising goal is met, all key research partnerships are formalized, IRB submission is underway, and the participant enrollment infrastructure is in place.
PHASE 2 - Next Up
Participant Enrollment
Opening the Doors
Phase 2 begins when the financial and institutional infrastructure of Phase 1 is in place and the study is ready to receive participants. Eligible participants include military veterans with a documented mTBI diagnosis and persistent post-concussive symptoms, active or former Special Operations Forces operators with blast or head impact exposure history, and current or former NFL athletes with a documented history of significant head impact exposure and persistent neurological or autonomic symptoms. Each participant undergoes a rigorous screening and eligibility process before being formally enrolled and randomly assigned to one of the three treatment arms. Phase 2 is complete when all 400 participants are enrolled, eligibility confirmed, and treatment arm assignments made.
PHASE 3
Onboarding & Baseline Imaging
Establishing the Full Picture
Before any intervention begins, every enrolled participant undergoes the most comprehensive baseline diagnostic workup ever assembled for an mTBI study — MRI with specialized thin-slice CCJ views, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Susceptibility Weighted Imaging, SPECT brain imaging through Amen Clinics, quantitative EEG, and Cone Beam CT imaging, alongside full neurological, vestibular, autonomic, and cognitive assessments. This is the scientific starting line — the point at which the complete picture of each participant's injury is established with precision and against which every subsequent outcome will be measured. Phase 3 is complete when all 400 participants have finished baseline imaging and assessment and are fully onboarded into their assigned treatment arms.
PHASE 4
Interventions
The Science In Action
Phase 4 is where the three arms diverge and the foundational science meets its moment of direct clinical evaluation. Arm One participants receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy combined with qEEG-guided photobiomodulation targeting the brain's metabolic and vascular needs. Arm Two participants receive Advanced Orthogonal upper cervical care — a precise, image-guided CCJ correction protocol delivered by a table-mounted sonic impulse instrument, individualized to each participant's specific misalignment pattern as determined by cone beam CT. Arm Three participants receive both interventions in a coordinated sequence, evaluating whether addressing both mechanisms simultaneously produces synergistic effects that exceed either approach alone. Phase 4 is complete when all participants have finished their assigned intervention protocols and thirty and ninety-day assessments.
PHASE 5
Data Collection & Analysis
The Evidence Takes Shape
Phase 5 is where the complete dataset comes together and the patterns that the prevailing model of mTBI has never been able to explain begin to emerge. Every imaging study, clinical assessment, and symptom outcome measure collected across all 400 participants at all four timepoints is compiled, cleaned, and analyzed against the pre-specified analytical framework — mapping symptom trajectories against structural and metabolic imaging changes to identify the specific pathophysiological pathways driving improvement in each arm. The six-month final assessment is completed during this phase, providing the longitudinal outcome data required to evaluate the durability of treatment effects over time. Phase 5 is complete when the full dataset has been collected, analyzed, and prepared for peer-reviewed manuscript development.
PHASE 6
Publication & Policy Imact
Reveling the Findings
Phase 6 is the culmination of everything that has come before it — and the beginning of everything that comes after. Peer-reviewed findings are submitted to journals of sufficient standing to reach the clinical, military, and policy audiences that need to act on them, and delivered directly to the Department of War, SOCOM, CENTCOM, and the VA as the scientific foundation for updated screening protocols, revised treatment guidelines, and based on the findings, recognition of CCJ dysfunction as an occupational health risk for Veteran's, Special Operations Forces, and Veterans. A plain-language summary of the results will be published on this website and distributed to all endorsing organizations, research partners, and study participants. Phase 6 is complete when the findings are published, policy advocacy is underway, and the standard of care begins to change.