Phase 1 Research Has Begun
We are now onboarding participants for the Phase 1 pilot.
Veterans living with persistent symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury can apply to take part — at no cost. Veterans who served in Special Operations are prioritized for the first cohort. Conducted under the oversight of the Institutional Review Board of Sherman College of Chiropractic.
Making the Invisible Wounds Visible
This is sixteen years of foundational science arriving at its moment of proof. We have traced the persistent, debilitating symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury back to their structural roots — and we are now conducting the clinical trial that will make those findings impossible for medicine and policy to ignore. What we discover, we will hand directly to the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense), U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) — not to manage the wounds, but to end them.
What Makes the Study Different
A Unique Approach
For decades, mild traumatic brain injury has been called an invisible wound — not because the suffering isn't real, but because the existing evaluation models have never been able to identify its full root cause. The headaches that outlast every treatment, the fog, the sleeplessness, the emotional dysregulation, the dizziness — these are real symptoms, thoroughly documented and consistently unresolved. They point to an origin that the prevailing model of mTBI has never fully evaluated — the craniocervical junction.
The craniocervical junction (CCJ), where the skull meets the upper cervical spine, is the neurological, vascular, and fluid-dynamic crossroads between the body and the brain. This study is not about replacing what we know. It is about revealing what we have been missing.
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The Scientific Coalition
The sponsoring institute and clinical and research partners executing the study.
A Four-Phase Path
Where We Are
This study does not end with data collection. It ends with policy change — new Department of War and VA standards for how mTBI is screened, diagnosed, and treated — and it gets there in four funded research phases. Each one is a complete, publishable body of work that de-risks the next. Phase 1 is underway and onboarding participants now, while we continue to raise the funds that complete it. Explore each phase to see its goal, its impact, and where the funding stands today.
Fifty participants, precise upper-cervical care, and the first published evidence that the craniocervical junction (CCJ) model works.
Explore Phase →Twenty participants across two treatment lanes while we build and prove the full trial's operational machine.
Explore Phase →380 more participants join Phase 2's twenty to complete the 400-participant trial, randomized across three arms — the definitive study.
Explore Phase →Final analysis and multi-journal publication that carries the findings into Department of War and VA policy.
Explore Phase →Every Dollar Moves This Forward
Fund the Work, One Phase at a Time
The full program is $23.5 million, staged across four phases. You can stand behind the phase we're funding now, or commit early to the ones ahead. Click any phase to see exactly where it stands.
A Mission That Takes a Team
How To Support
Invest in the Science
This study is designed to move the standard of care — a full-spectrum, root-cause investigation into mild traumatic brain injury rigorous enough to reshape Department of War policy and redirect VA treatment.
Your investment is that belief in action.
Fund the MissionLend Your Voice
If your organization has been fighting for veterans, operators, athletes, or the truth about brain injury — your endorsement tells funders and policymakers that the people who understand what is at stake believe in this work.
Stand with us.
Add Your EndorsementStrengthen the Science
We are building a research coalition with the institutional depth to produce findings that medicine and policy cannot ignore. If you represent an imaging center, a university, or bring clinical expertise — there may be a place for you.
The right partners make the science stronger.
Explore a PartnershipConnect Someone to an Answer
Do you know a veteran, a special operator, or an athlete who has been living with symptoms that no treatment has resolved? Refer them to this study — Phase 1 is onboarding veterans now.
They have been waiting long enough.
Refer a ParticipantCommon Questions
Questions & Answers
- What is the mTBI Keystone Research Study?
- It is a phased clinical research study investigating the craniocervical junction (CCJ) — where the skull meets the upper cervical spine — as a structural root cause of persistent mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) symptoms in veterans, special operators, and athletes.
- Why focus on the craniocervical junction?
- The craniocervical junction is the neurological, vascular, and fluid-dynamic crossroads between the body and the brain. Prevailing mTBI evaluation models have never fully assessed it, which may explain why symptoms like headaches, fog, and dizziness so often outlast standard treatment.
- How much funding does the study need?
- The full four-phase program is $23.5 million. It funds a 50-participant pilot, a 400-participant randomized trial with comprehensive diagnostic imaging and direct treatment across three study arms, and the analysis and publication needed to bring the findings to the Department of War, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
- Who can take part, and how do I apply?
- Phase 1 is now onboarding veterans living with persistent symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury; veterans who served in Special Operations are prioritized for the first cohort. Apply at mtbiresearch.com/apply. Later phases also enroll special operators and athletes. Phase 1 is conducted under the oversight of the Institutional Review Board of Sherman College of Chiropractic.