Dr James Thing (MBBS; BSc; MRCGP; FFSEM) is the founder and lead clinician at The Joint Injection Clinic. He established the clinic in 2021 as a way of offering self-paying patients an affordable, rapid-access, ultrasound-guided, doctor-lead injection service. The service is designed for patients with musculoskeletal issues, as an alternative to lengthy NHS waiting list times and the expensive alternative of Central London Private hospital and clinic prices.
James is a UK-trained Sport and Exercise Medicine Consultant specialising in musculoskeletal ultrasound and ultrasound-guided injections. He has over ten years of experience in this field.
James originally trained as a General Practitioner giving him an excellent grounding in general medicine, surgery and orthopaedics. He then undertook four years of specialist registrar training in Sport and Exercise Medicine, based in London, qualifying as a consultant in 2014.
James has been a pitchside doctor for Harlequins Rugby in the English Premiership since 2012-present. During his training James worked as a Sports medicine doctor at the London Olympics in 2012 and has ten years’ experience as the British Athletics Event Lead Doctor, co-ordinating track-side athlete care for Diamond League and Anniversary games athletics events.
He has worked as a consultant in the NHS in the radiology department at The Royal London Hospital and teaches on internationally renowned ultrasound-guided injection courses.
James enjoys working with all patients, whether they have a specific sports-related injury or a musculoskeletal issue secondary to degenerative change such as knee and hip arthritis. He is a keen runner and has completed 13 marathons with a PB of 3 hours 29 minutes.
His interests include:
1) Diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound and ultrasound guided injections.
2) Treatment of tendon disorders including Achilles and Patellar tendinopathy, as well as plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, golfer's elbow.
3) Non-surgical treatment of osteoarthritis, particularly knee, hip and hand/wrist. Dr Thing takes a holistic, multi-faceted approach to the management of arthritis, using a variety of conservative techniques and injection options. He also has experience in providing PRP and Arthrosamid injections at The Joint Injection Clinic.
4) Adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) - Dr Thing has a particular interest in frozen shoulder management, using a hydrodilatation/high volume injection technique to prevent the need for surgical intervention in the vast majority of patients. He also treats shoulder impingement/rotator cuff-related shoulder pain, acromio-clavicular joint injury.
James has had articles published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and has contributed to the development of national guidelines for Exertional Heat Stroke. He has also served as an Associate Editor of the British Journal of Sport and Exercise Medicine (BJSM).
