Jennifer Grey recovering after back surgery

Jennifer Grey, who overcame a ruptured disc and fought back to clinch the Season 11 "Dancing With the Stars" championship in November, is recovering at home following back surgery last week.

"I have to rest a bit more, but I feel great - completely pain-free," the actress, 50, told People magazine Monday.

Dr. Robert S. Bray Jr., who performed the surgery at the D.I.S.C. Sports and Spine Center in Marina del Rey, Calif., told People that he removed "a huge [disc] fragment"from Grey's back during the successful procedure. Now Grey, he said, "can go back to her family, Pilates, dancing - just about anything she wants."

Grey, who became a romance-movie icon playing opposite Patrick Swayze in 1987's "Dirty Dancing," felt the first twinge of lower-back pain on Nov. 21, the first night of the live, two-part "Dancing With the Stars" finale. By morning, the pain "had become unbearable and she was in tears," Bray said. "She absolutely could not move."

Based on MRI results showing a ruptured disc, Bray treated the pain with steroids. Grey, he said, "felt better and asked if she could get to the show. She asked me, 'Is it safe? Am I going to damage myself?' I said, 'No, if you want to, you can try.' "