Kevin Swindell is encouraged by the early progress he has made as he continues to recover from severe spinal injuries sustained in a Sprint Car crash in August.

Swindell has been undergoing rehabilitation since he broke his back in two places when his car landed heavily after an airborne crash at Knoxville, and the 26-year-old told RACER.com that he is already beginning to regain some sensation in his legs.

“Just finished the first month of therapy,” he said. “It’s been pretty good so far; I’ve been able to get some movement back in places and get some feelng back, so I’m just going to keep plugging along.

“It’s tough at times. It sucks to go from the way you live your life to [something] completely different. But it’s part of it and I’m dealing with it and kind of look forward and plan on what I’m going to be able to do when I get back. It doesn’t shut your life off, it just puts a little kink in it.”

Despite the encouraging signs, Swindell’s doctors have not yet given an indication about their expectations for his future recovery. In the meantime, the four-time Chili Bowl Nationals winner is focusing his efforts on strengthening the areas that he can, and trying to be patient with those that he can’t.

“Nobody really gives you much of ‘this is what’s going to happen in this amount of time’,” he says. “It’s just a big waiting game of, when the swelling goes down, and what wakes up, and what doesn’t. There’s a lot of stuff that [the doctors] can help with and strengthen, and there’s some stuff that you’ve just got to wait out and hope that it wakes back up. And there’s a lot of stuff where we’ve been lucky and it has woken up early on, so hopefully it just keeps going.”

However, he has started thinking about a return to the cockpit in a car fitted with hand controls, although his recovery is still at such an early stage that it’s unlikely that a comeback would take place before 2016.

“Dad [three-time World of Outlaw champion Sammy] jumped on the hand control idea right away,” he said. “I think if I can get my body back to where I was comfortable it would be something worth a try. I don’t know if I’d have the stamina or pain tolerance to do it this year, but we’ll see where I’m at next year and definitely make some sort of shot at it.”

Watch Robin Miller’s full video interview with Kevin Swindell here.