The 71-year-old, who is attending a regional security summit in Kuala Lumpur, has been getting around with the help of a polished black walking stick used by two generations of the Kennedy dynasty.
"This cane has a history," Kerry told delegates at a meeting held on the sidelines of an annual security forum hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The walking stick, he explained, was originally owned by Joseph P Kennedy when he was Washington's ambassador to the United Kingdom during the early stages of the Second World War.
"So when Vicki Kennedy, (Teddy's) widow, heard that I had broken my leg, she knew I was going to need the cane," Kerry told delegates in the Malaysian capital.
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Washington's top envoy, who looked to Teddy Kennedy as his political mentor, broke his right femur while riding a bike in the French Alps on May 31 during crunch negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.
But the injury has done little to hold him back from a frenetic few weeks of diplomacy.
Last month six world powers, led by the US, reached a landmark deal with Tehran over its nuclear programme, and Kerry has travelled to the Middle East and Southeast Asia since then.
On his latest trip an aide was seen carrying a pair of crutches, just in case the diplomat needed more solid support.
"Three times is lucky, right?" he quipped.