Kevin Hart in ‘Advanced Stage’ of Recovery Following Car Crash, Physical Therapist Says

Exactly two months after he suffered serious spinal injuries in a car crash, Kevin Hart is in the “advanced stage” of recovery, according to a physical therapist who spoke with Us Weekly. The 40-year-old actor and comedian had been involved in an early September car crash and has been undergoing intense physical therapy ever since, forcing him to take a step back from the spotlight.

“He’s in the advanced stage [of recovery], for sure,” Dr. Karena Wu. told the outlet. “So, the advanced stage, you’re back to normal function and…his spine can tolerate the weight and the impact force. So he’s fully loading the spine so that he can get back to sport-specific function or anything job-related for work, right? So, if he’s in an action thriller, he’s got to jump off a building onto obviously maybe a pad probably, but then he can actually do that stunt.”

After suffering three fractures to his spine – two in the thoracic part of his spine and one in the lumbar – which were later fused in surgery, it was said that Hart would have to undergo several months of physical therapy, and following his release from an in-patient rehab center, he continued his treatments at home. While there were reports that he was still having difficulty walking, Hart returned to work on a campaign for his upcoming film Jumanji: The Next Level in mid-October, his co-stars working “reduced scheduled” to accommodate him and his recovery.

According to Dr. Wu, although he has made great progress, he still has a long journey ahead of him, as it will likely take him 18 months to two years” to be “100 percent normal” again, though she expects that he is already feeling much better and seeing drastic improvements.

“Depending on what’s going on in there, if they’ve gotten the pressure off of the nerves, he’s probably in low-grade pain, not severe pain because if he’s doing sports drills like that, he’s probably not in a tremendous amount of pain,” Wu explained.

On Tuesday night, Hart officially broke his silence on the accident when he took to Instagram with a video documenting his ongoing recovery, showing clips of the aftermath of the accident as well as the exercises that are part of his recovery.

“Basically what you realize is that you’re not in control,” Hart said in the video. “No matter how much you think you’re in control, you’re not in control. And at the end of the day, it can all be over, man.”

Hart is not expected to return to work in a full capacity until 2020.