New chiropractic practice to open in Algonquin later this month

For Lake in the Hills resident Amanda Gerke, this year has “completely flown by.”

More specifically, “it was chaos,” said Gerke, who graduated from chiropractic school in April and has been working on opening her first practice in Algonquin for the past three months.

CAMP ChiroTherapy, Gerke’s new practice, is expected to open Dec. 16, at 3931 W. Algonquin Road.

Gerke went to Marquette University in Wisconsin for her undergraduate degree in 2010, then worked before returning to chiropractic school at the National University of Health Sciences in Lombard, where she had an internship through the university.

“I’m from around here – my whole family’s out here – so it was nice to be able to come back and go back to school for what I wanted to do,” Gerke said.

Gerke knew she wanted to do something in the medical field starting in high school, but she had no idea what.

While she worked in an immunology lab for a couple of years after studying biochemistry and molecular biology at Marquette, Gerke figured out it wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Then, she pulled something in her back as she was getting her baby daughter, who is now almost 7 years old, out of her car seat.

That’s when Gerke visited a chiropractor for the first time in her life.

“She completely just changed my whole experience of seeing a physician and getting treated,” Gerke said. “I literally left there and was like, “This is what I want to do,’ so I figured out how to make it happen, and here we are.”

Gerke, who spent her childhood in Crystal Lake and who is a Crystal Lake South High School graduate, said she knew she wanted to remain a part of the community she grew up in, so she opened her practice in the area.

“There’s nothing like home,” she said.

Part of the appeal for her is that her office in Algonquin is only a few minutes away from where she lives in Lake in the Hills, and her family is nearby.

Gerke had her son in the middle of her chiropractic program – she took the board exams six weeks after he was born. Her daughter was born before she started school.

“It was a lot of no sleep,” Gerke said. “We take a lot of board exams as chiropractors. It’s constant go-go-go.

“Luckily, my husband was pretty amazing and was able to take over the burden when I needed him to. I’m also fortunate that my kids are actually pretty well-behaved and cooperated pretty well while we’ve been in this chaotic moment of our lives.”

Patients will be able to sign up for appointments by visiting www.CAMPChiroTherapy.com, or calling 224-241-8156.