RELATED: Full coverage of Stewart's injury
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart is up and walking, breaking his social media silence for the first time since suffering severe back injuries in an all-terrain vehicle accident Jan. 31.
The three-time NASCAR champion answered questions about his injuries, his future and his outlook through two live-streaming Periscope sessions Friday morning from his North Carolina home. Stewart was seen walking on a treadmill and briefly showed the scars from his back surgery, which repaired the burst fracture of his L1 vertebra.
"We're starting to get the pain under control," said Stewart, who aims to return for the remainder of his final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. "I didn't want everybody to think that while everyone was at Daytona today, I was sitting on my ass in Charlotte."
Stewart, 44, said that his accident in the desert came at low speed, explaining that the sand buggy he was driving "nose-planted" into a dune after a drop of an estimated 20-25 feet. He noted that he was unable to call for help since there was no cell-phone signal and the group he was with did not have two-way radios.
He joked about having difficulty in embellishing his story, "when you're only going 5 mph. Hard to make that sound cool at all."
Brian Vickers was named as Stewart's interim replacement in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet for Daytona's Speedweeks on Friday morning. Stewart said doctors advised him not to travel to Daytona, keeping him in North Carolina to focus on his recovery.
RELATED: Vickers named No. 14 driver for Daytona
Stewart indicated that he had two rods and three screws inserted surgically. He said his rehabilitation is being led by the same doctor who oversaw Kyle Busch's recovery from multiple leg fractures last season. Stewart said that some of his biggest issues were with spasms, trying to get his muscles to relax, but added that his conditioning -- even before the accident -- had improved. He said he had lost 22 pounds since Dec. 1.
Stewart said doctors also told him to either lie flat or to be up and walking, instead of sitting or standing in one place. Stewart said he's trying not to overdo his rehabilitation, but that the injury's limitations have made him like a "caged animal. ... It's hard to go back to just laying around. When I've had enough, my back tells me."
Stewart, who won championships in 2002, 2005 and 2011, did not offer a timetable for his return to competition, but he did rule out altering his NASCAR retirement plan to make up for this season's lost time: "No, I'm not doing another season since this happened. I made my decision and that's it."
The offseason injury means Stewart will miss portions of three of the last four Sprint Cup seasons. He missed the final 15 races of the 2013 season after suffering severe leg fractures in a sprint car event in Oskaloosa, Iowa. In 2014, he sat out three races after an on-track incident at a New York dirt track took the life of 20-year-old competitor Kevin Ward Jr.
Stewart said he'd mentioned needing an exorcism, claiming, "there's definitely a demon inside me that keeps getting me hurt." Despite the recent hardships, he shrugged off any notion of sympathy.
"I wouldn't say 'poor baby.' We've been through a lot worse than this," Stewart said. "This is just another bump in the road."
RELATED: Watch Stewart's Q&A session