Tony Hawk Says He Had Femur 'Surgically Realigned' in Explaining Cane: 'I'm Taking It Slow This Time'

Jeff Kravitz/Getty for P+ and MTV

Tony Hawk is holding off on doing a kickflip for now, but that doesn't mean he won't be back to skating at a "high level" once again.

On Friday, the iconic professional skateboarder, 54, revealed the reason he's still walking with a cane, promising his concerned Twitter followers that he won't be injured forever.

"To those seeing pics of me using a cane and assuming it is a permanent situation: I had my femur surgically realigned 2 weeks ago in order to get back to what I love doing at a high level," Hawk wrote. "And I'm taking it slow this time around. See you on the other side."

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After his appearance at Detroit's Thanksgiving parade this year while he was skating alongside floats, Tony shared on the social media platform that he was scheduled to get the femur surgery done just a week after the holiday.

Addressing the "hundreds (thousands?)" of people who yelled "do a kickflip" at him, Hawk provided a reasonable explanation as to why he skipped out on nailing any tricks. "My apologies; it was hard enough skating through the whole parade on my misaligned femur," he wrote. "Surgery is scheduled for next week to put it back in place 🤞🏽"

As always, the internet is in Hawk's corner, with many sending their well-wishes to the Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee as he updates fans on his well-being. On Instagram Story Friday, Hawk uploaded an image of what appears to be a post-surgery wound. The picture, alongside an Instagram sticker of Frankenstein, was complete with the caption "Zip ties>stitches? I have 6 other openings like this."

Tony Hawk/Instagram

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In an April interview with PEOPLE, Hawk opened up about his HBO Max documentary Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, as he explained that he broke his femur while on his board on March 7. After the injury, he then worked toward his goal of presenting at the Oscars — which gave him a timeline to walk again.

After skating again shortly following the injury, Hawk revealed in an Instagram post in November that he was "too cavalier in my approach," as he ignored "all warning signs — pain, mostly — and ended up shifting the bone placement that never allowed it to fuse properly." At the time, he revealed he'd be more patient as he recovers from the injury, and resulting surgery, again.

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The Sam Jones-directed documentary — which features never-before-seen footage, and interviews with Hawk and prominent figures in the sport including Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Sean Mortimer, and Christian Hosoi — follows many of the other challenges Hawk has faced as a pioneer of modern vertical skating.

Hawk told PEOPLE at the time that seeing all the interviews and the footage in the film surprised him. "I was honored with the things they said or what they observed," Hawk said. "I think that it's funny when we premiered [the film] at South by Southwest there's that whole segment doing the 900 [at the] X Games, I've seen that footage so many times. But [Jones] managed to secure other footage from people that were there with their own video cameras. And obviously, I know the outcome, but when the whole theater erupted in applause when I did it, it was emotional."

Hawk also explained that his goal for the sport's future is to see it "more widely recognized, especially internationally."

"With more support, more skateparks and more kids having the opportunity to try it, they learn a lot about themselves when they skate," he said. "Not because they're trying to make a career out of it, but just because they enjoy the process, they enjoy the community, they enjoy what it brings to them. And I think kids all over the world should have access to try."