PITTSBURGH — Three-and-a-half weeks removed from a punctured and partially collapsed lung, T.J. Watt is ready for his return.

Speaking with the media on Friday, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ star outside linebacker indicated that he feels healthy enough to play in Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. Official confirmation came moments later, when Watt was listed as a full participant on Friday. He carries no injury designation.

“I feel pretty good, honestly,” Watt said. “I don’t know if I could have said that a week ago. But I feel really good. I feel really confident in the week of practice. Excited to play.”

On Dec. 10, Watt came to the team facility on a day off for players to work out and receive treatment. During a dry needling treatment, the instrument punctured his lung, leading to a partially collapsed lung. Watt underwent a surgical procedure shortly after and has missed the Steelers’ last three games.

“I got dry needling at the facility,” Watt said. “Didn’t feel right. Shortly afterwards, I was in a significant amount of pain. I ended up going to the hospital. I think you guys saw, I ended up getting surgery. The recovery was just different because it was something I wasn’t used to.

“More than anything, I was trying to figure out how to attack coming back. It’s not like a knee, so it was all new feelings. It was a surgery I wasn’t very familiar with. I’m very happy to feel as good as I do right now.”

Dry needling, according to the Physical Therapy Association, is “a skilled intervention that uses a thin filiform needle to penetrate the skin and stimulate underlying myofascial trigger points, muscular and connective tissues for the management of neuromusculoskeletal pain and movement impairments.” Watt confirmed that the dry needling treatment was performed by someone connected to the Steelers, not an independent contractor he brought in himself. He said it’s a treatment he has done regularly, but with a smile, said he’s going to “take a break” from it for a while.

“I think a lot of guys, not only in this facility, but across professional sports use dry needling a lot,” Watt said. “It just happened to be a fluke thing.”

Watt acknowledged it was a “very scary” situation.

“Any time you go into work and all of the sudden need surgery, it sucks,” Watt said. “Just a lot of unknown. But I’m glad to have the doctors that we had, the surgeon that I had, and to be able to be here and playing a football game this weekend is all I’m focused on right now.”

Watt returned to practice last week in a limited capacity. This week, he was listed as a limited participant on Wednesday and Thursday before being upgraded to full on Friday.