Ahman Green, the Green Bay Packers’ career rushing leader, revealed he has Parkinson’s disease.
Green, 49, said during an interview on the podcast “Go Long with Tyler Dunne” that he was diagnosed with early onset of the disease in January 2025. Before his appearance this week, he said he had shared the diagnosis with only family and close friends.
“I had a little bit of the feet twitching when I’m in my sleep and stuff like that,” Green said. “I mean, I knew something was going on long before that. I just got a hold of some doctors [and] was able to get in contact with and get the diagnostics, get the testing and finally got it tested.”
Green said his short-term memory is “trash.”
“I’ve got to remind myself of things,” he said. “When I meet somebody for the first time, it’s like a name, I hear that name, then I repeat it. I try to repeat it or write it down. And if I don’t, I’ve got to follow up with them.”
Green holds the Packers records for career rushing yards (8,322), single-season rushing yards (1,883 in 2003) and rushing yards in a game (218 against the Broncos in 2003). He broke Jim Taylor’s career rushing record during his second stint with the Packers in the 2009 season. Previously, he played for the Packers from 2000-06 after coming to Green Bay in a trade from the Seattle Seahawks. He also played for the Houston Texans between his two stints with the Packers.
He’s at least the second Packers player from his era who has said he has Parkinson’s. Quarterback Brett Favre revealed in 2024 that he was diagnosed with the disease.
“It needs to be upfront,” Green said about discussing Parkinson’s among former players. “It needs to be a topic that’s always hit.”
Green said he has focused on his diet and cleansing his body while also getting treatment from doctors.
“I got the reins,” he said. “I’m in control. I’m not going to let this control me. There is some medicines that I’ve been taking from the doctor’s side of it, so I made sure [to stay] on my protocol there but on my side, the food is my medicine.
“I’m ahead of it right now,” he added. “For the doctors that examine me, they said really, if they didn’t know what they knew about the early signs, they would have thought I was in great [shape] ... until they really sat me down, between taking my vitals to having me walk in front of them and what they saw in my walk, in my gait and the way my shoulders hang.”
