Schumacher's doctor hopeful of F1 legend's 'recovery within three years'

Stricken Formula One legend Michael Schumacher's doctor, who treated him for nearly six months following his brain injury in a skiing accident, has said that the former champion has made some progress.

However, Jean-Francois Payen, a doctor at the French hospital in Grenoble where Schumacher was treated, warned that any recovery would take time. He suggested that the typical convalescence period was one to three years.

Schumacher was skiing in the French Alps last December when he fell and hit his head on a rock. He was placed in a medically induced coma to help reduce swelling in his brain as he underwent treatment in Grenoble and then in Lausanne, Switzerland, The BBC reported.

The seven-time world champion has now been taken out of the coma and is being looked after at his home in Gland, Switzerland, where Payen still visits him to track his progress.

On Thursday, the doctor revealed that he has noted some progress, but added that he would say they should give Schumacher time. He also referred to a time frame for patients with similar brain injuries about the chances of Schumacher making a recovery.

Payen said that it's like for other patients, they are on a timescale which goes from one year to three years and they need to be patient.

Earlier this year, neurosurgeon Tony Belli had said that rehabilitation from this sort of injury could take months or years. He said that they know that some people can spend three, four years in rehabilitation, adding that it depends very much on the severity of the injury, how young and fit they are.