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Joan M. Hinken, DVM, CVA, CVSMT

Dr. Hinken grew up with a love for animals, especially horses. She began horseback riding with the purchase of her first pony, which eventually led to joining the United States Pony Club and attaining her ‘B’ rating.

She obtained several retired Thoroughbred racehorses and retrained them to compete in combined training, both long and short formats, along with participation in hunter/jumper horse shows. It was during this period that she grew to love the beauty, athleticism, heart, and intelligence of Thoroughbred horses.

Dr. Hinken graduated from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in 1985. After graduation she pursued her love for Thoroughbred racehorses by practicing on the racetracks in South Florida and Chicago, IL as a solo practitioner.

Feeling that there were other ways to assist the horses she loved, Dr. Hinken pursued her certification in Veterinary Acupuncture through the Chi Institute in Ocala, FL in 1999. While acupuncture was a valuable tool in her medical kit, she became intrigued with the idea of being able to help even more horses with veterinary chiropractic. In 2010, Dr. Hinken attended the Healing Oasis Wellness Center in Sturtevant, WI and received her certification in Veterinary Spinal Manipulation Therapy (VSMT).

She made the difficult decision to leave her racetrack practice to pursue a new practice offering veterinary acupuncture and spinal manipulation. Dr. Hinken returned to the Chi Institute and completed their course in advanced equine acupuncture. The Healing Oasis Wellness Center invited her to be a staff instructor at their school where she taught fellow veterinarians and chiropractors for several years.

Being an avid competitive runner, Dr. Hinken became acquainted with the chiropractic use of applied kinesiology to solve many of her personal ailments. This led her to attend Health Pioneers seminars on Applied Kinesiology and Functional Neurology along with many other seminars they offered. This enabled her to diagnose and treat inappropriate expression of Central Pattern Generators (CPG), issues with the autonomic nervous system and neurological issues in general. It enabled her to determine at what level the spinal cord lesion was located and gave her the tools to treat the lesion.

When not practicing VSMT and acupuncture she enjoys riding her two OTTB’s and running with her GSD.

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