Jack Collison has spoken of his determination to be back in action as soon as possible as he focuses on the early stages of his rehabilitation.
The West Ham United midfielder was ruled out for the rest of 2010 last month when he underwent a knee operation. Although he has a "long way to go", he is delighted to be able to begin the slow process of getting back to performing at the highest level for the club in the Barclays Premier League
Speaking to whufc.com, Collison said: "I had the op and then it was a case of resting the knee. I have crutches now and have started the first part of the rehab I have to do. This includes ten to 12 hours a day doing machine work, to get the knee and the muscles stronger again.
"It is long days at the moment but now that I have started the rehab I feel I am doing something. I know that I have a long way to go.
"It was a bit frustrating at first, as you can't move around much. I have had the operation now which I needed to have and I am glad it is all done and is out of the way now. I am now just aiming to work as hard as I can now on getting back to fitness.
"The machine work I am doing is helping me to bend the knee. I also use ice machines and am concentrating on getting the muscles back up to full strength. I am expected to be doing this for at least another three weeks and will be able to push on a bit more with more mobile work.
"I can't wait to get rid of the crutches. When I can throw them off, I will be very happy. Although the rehab is a long process and there is a lot of work ahead, this first part is important and I am getting through OK."
Still only 21, Collison revealed he had struggled with the problem towards the end of the frustrating 2009/10 campaign. "I was trying to get through the season, but in the end, it was the best thing for me to have the operation.
"The medical staff were great in trying to get me through, but I kept getting little niggles and that kept stopping me, so it was decided that the best thing was to have the operation to clear the injury up.
"Obviously for me, I was frustrated not being able to be out there training every day or be on the pitch towards the end of last season with the rest of the lads - especially with the position we were in. I wanted to play my part in helping us get results to stay up but wasn't able to.
"As a group of players together, we know we should have done better - we worked hard to get out of the situation to stay up, which we did, but now the aim will be to improve on that and get stronger for this season.
"For me personally, is to get through the rehab programme and get myself back to full fitness and be ready to play my part again in helping West Ham to do well."