Elmhurst’s Jen Camden celebrates new opening with Athletico

Now the manager and physical therapist at the new Elmhurst Athletico facility, it was receiving treatment for a string of softball injuries in high school and college that first interested Jen Camden in the field.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the training room,” she said. “I enjoyed working with active individuals. I shadowed with a few physical therapists I was familiar with in high school. Allowing me to be there to witness what they did on a day-to-day basis really encouraged my interest. And that’s when I started looking into colleges.”

That eventually led to a bachelors degree in physical therapy at Elmhurst College. The softball player moved from the infield to the outfield when she joined the Blue Jay’s softball team. The longer throw from the outfield caused tendonitis in her shoulder her sophomore year, which was successfully treated by physical therapists, and she played all four years.

Camden went on to receive a doctorate in physical therapy from Rosalind Franklin University.
She has worked for Athletico for 11 years, working part-time during school, and then serving as assistant manager for four years at an Athletico in Bannockburn.

Camden, a Vernon Hills native, and her husband and two children moved to Elmhurst three years ago.
With the opening of Athletico Elmhurst this week, she'll be able to live and work in the town she grew attached to as a student.

“The strong sense of community and tight-knit nature that Elmhurst displays, coupled with its central location, made Elmhurst the ideal spot for my husband and I to live and raise our family,” she said. “I am excited to be a part of opening an Athletico clinic in my own community and to be able to provide quality, individualized patient care to the members of this community and its surrounding neighbors.”

The facility opened Monday at 111 W. Third St. It offers physical therapy, sports medicine, work rehabilitation, work conditioning, and treating SI joint dysfunctions, which is in the lower back.
It also offers women's health therapy services including pre- and post-natal care.
She said that offering pre- and post-natal physical therapy care is unique.

“I think that a lot of people think ‘It’s pregnancy you’re supposed to have a little bit of pain,’” she said. “But that’s true only to a certain degree. I think it’s definitely rewarding to attempt physical therapy, because even if you get slightly better, that’s better than not getting better at all or only getting slightly worse.”