The Bombers play the Saints this Friday night and the 25-year-old is certain to miss that game, but is hoping to return for the clash with arch-enemy Carlton the following week.
Winderlich has a long and painful injury history, with serious back operations in the last couple of years threatening to end his career.
The speedster will have a plate inserted on Tuesday afternoon, but he said it was already better than it had been immediately after the injury, and compared his situation to that of Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell, who had a similar operation earlier in the month and only missed one game.
"It was pretty sore after the game at the weekend, but now it's starting to feel like it's not too bad, even before I have the operation," Winderlich said on Tuesday morning.
"A couple of the other boys have had similar operations and they've only missed a couple of weeks, or one week.
"Sam Mitchell had something similar and only missed one as well."
Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton told the Bombers' website that the coaching staff were rapt that Winderlich had been able to play out the game despite the break.
“He showed a lot of courage," Hamilton said. "He broke it quite early in the game and played out the remainder of the game under a fair bit of duress, with a fair bit of commitment.
“We were really pleased because he was keen to play on, and the doctors said it wouldn’t do any further damage.
"I think it showed the resilience of the group.”
