Nathan van Berlo is out of his moon boot and walking again after Achilles surgery.

Van Berlo, 27, ruptured his Achilles tendon in a freak training accident in January. On Thursday, van Berlo had a three-month check-up with his surgeon, who was happy with the Adelaide captain’s progress.

The hard-running midfielder said he was pleased to tick another box in his recovery.

“It was 12 weeks on Monday, so that’s pretty exciting. It’s been going really well. I had a scan on Monday and saw the surgeon on Thursday, and he’s really pleased with where I’m at,” van Berlo said.

“It’s been so far, so good. I’ve been really patient with my recovery. I’ve progressed through my rehab and I’m out of my moon boot, which is unreal. I’ve been able to drive around again and do all the things you take for granted.”

Van Berlo is familiarising himself with walking again with the help of the Alter-G machine at West Lakes. The ‘Alter-G’ allows players returning from lower-limb injuries to run in a controlled environment and minimises the stress and physical impact on the body.

Van Berlo will increase his training load slowly to rebuild the strength in his “skinnier” right leg. “I didn’t have too much to lose in the first place because I’ve got pretty skinny legs!”

Van Berlo hopes to be running in about a month.

“The Alter-G has been awesome for me in terms of getting used to walking properly again. It’s funny how quickly you get used to walking with a limp, or your mind telling your body you can’t walk properly when you actually can,” van Berlo said.

“I started at probably 50 per cent body weight just to get the feel of it again. I’ve been spending 15-20 minutes a day just walking on there and getting the mechanics right.

“I daresay I’ll use it a lot when I start running again too. Hopefully, I can start progressing to that (running) over the next month or so. I just have to take it really slowly."

Van Berlo remains on track for a late-season return to football, but still has a long road ahead.

The West Australian has maintained a positive outlook throughout his recovery. He said the key to coping with a long-term injury was setting a series of little goals.

“I’ve just tried to break it down week-by-week. I’ve been pretty lucky that I’ve had different exercises to do each week whether it be cycling, swimming, rope exercises or gym work. It’s kept my rehab relatively fresh,” he said.

“I’ve also had Ricky Henderson (fractured leg) by my side, so I haven’t been too lonely. ‘Hendo’ cracks me up a fair bit. We’ll have each other for most of our rehab. I wish he wasn’t there with me for his sake, but he is so we’ll keep each other company and get through it together.”