Originally from Eldorado, Dr. Jessica Cook moved to Carmi in 2008, has 3 kids and in May of 2021 she joined the Pro Rehab family. In the spring, Pro Rehab opened it’s forty-first clinic and third in Illinois at 1706 West Main in Carmi. Cook was at Kiwanis on Thursday and she says things are going well.
“Was there need for a third physical therapy place? I guess there was because we’re crazy busy! Adding another location in Carmi has allowed therapists to help more Carmians and folks from neighboring communities.”
She says therapy, whether it’s physical, occupational, or speech, has come to the forefront of healthcare in the last several years and she works for Pro Rehab because of the commitment they’ve put into not only having patients thrive, but their employees as well. Through Pro Rehab, she says all her continuing education is paid for and that pays off for consumers.
“We need to know what’s going on and how to best treat our patients. People are living longer so we need to know how to best treat this older population. Kiddos are getting into sports at a younger age. We need to know how to treat these pediatric patients for these sport injuries that maybe we weren’t seeing until high school before. Pro Rehab puts in so much to their therapists so we can get this continuing education and new information so that we can provide the best care for our patients.”
Among the services provided at Pro Rehab include general orthopedic services, low back pain management, sports medicine, vestibular imbalance therapy, and trigger point dry needling, which Cook describes…
“When inserted into the trigger point or tight band of the muscle, it creates a neurophysiological change. So that means the muscle that just got inserted with the needle, the nerves and the brain are going to work and talk better together. So one patient in particular, he had a shoulder issue. His right arm is great, he says he could do a million lifts. The left arm though, he’s struggling with just 4 pounds. It hurt, couldn’t lift it. So we try needling, it only takes about 5 minutes. We come back out and he says, ‘I’m stronger!’. Now did I make him stronger in 5 minutes? No, but did the needling help those muscle fibers and the nerves and brain communicate, yes.”
Cook is the clinic director and lead therapist. She’s joined in Carmi by Lindsey Grider, Healthcare Coordinator, Samantha (Gowdy) Wilson, Physical Therapy Assistant, and Alison Weber, a fellow physical therapist. Learn more about Pro Rehab online at http://www.prorehab.com or call 618-384-7872. The clinic is open Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm.
