California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be on crutches for his Jan. 5 inauguration after undergoing surgery to repair a broken leg on Tuesday at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif.

The former actor and bodybuilder needed screws and cables to secure his thigh bone, which was fractured in a skiing accident, said orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kevin Ehrhart.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, seen here in January, needed surgery to repair a thigh bone after breaking it while skiing.
(Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)

"Following the surgery, the governor was awake, alert and talking in the recovery room," said Ehrhart, who also repaired former president Ronald Reagan's broken hip in 2001.

The 59-year-old faces about eight weeks of recovery and will be getting around on crutches, the doctor said.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was elected as governor for a second time in the U.S. mid-term election on Nov. 7. Schwarzenegger does not expect to postpone his second inauguration as governor, scheduled for Jan. 5, according to spokeswoman Julie Soderlund.

He broke the leg while skiing with his family in Sun Valley, Idaho, on the weekend.

The Sun Valley resort has a black diamond trail called "Arnold's Run" in honour of Schwarzenegger.

It is Schwarzenegger's third trip to hospital in the past year. In January 2006, the governor needed 15 stitches to repair a cut lip after colliding with a car while riding his motorcycle in Los Angeles.

He also spent several hours in hospital last December with a rapid heartbeat while he had stomach flu.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is expected to have to tackle the issue of health care in his coming term, as millions of Californians are without basic health coverage.

With files from the Associated Press