THOMASVILLE — For almost two years, Ryan Stuart woke up every morning not knowing why he was in pain.

An odyssey of visits to numerous doctors and specialists left him with no answers until he finally met his “medical savior,” Dr. Tim Schrader of non-profit organization Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Orthopaedic Hip Program.

“In one office visit and one X-ray, he had it figured out and knew what needed to be done,” Stuart said. “I was diagnosed with semoroacetabular impingement, otherwise known as SAI.

“The ball part of my hip did not have a neck like it should so it just went straight back and was not able to rotate fully in the socket; instead it ground against the socket wall.”

Schrader, in a phone interview, said Ryan seemed like a happy-go-lucky kid and an athlete who was in pain.

“He’d been told all kinds of things, but he kept looking for answers. In Ryan’s condition, when the ball and socket joints rub together, the cartilage is rubbed and this causes pain, stiffness and damage.”

Stuart, 18, of Coolidge, always wanted to play football, baseball and other sports, and he was good at it; he was a catcher and an offensive lineman.

Stuart played sports in middle school, but experienced pain, loss of flexibility and a grinding feeling in his hips.

He thought it was normal because of the positions he played, but a doctor recommended he take a year to rest and Ryan reluctantly agreed.

The pain persisted and he went to a variety of doctors in different states, but no one could figure it out. It was even suggested to the teen that the pain was all in his head.

“I was tested for lupus, arthritis and other things, but no one could find anything orthopedic. The best they could say was I might have rheumatoid arthritis.”

Stuart went out for summer sports before his sophomore year, but still had pain. He visited a specialist in Atlanta and was told he could not play during the regular football season.

“That was a blow,” he said.

His mother Beth said, with her son was on various medications and taking injections, his situation was not getting better and the doctors reran all the tests.

“It was a lot of aggravation and frustration, every time we got inconclusive results,” she said. “The number of trips we took to Atlanta, a lot of times twice a week, was very draining on both of us.”