AFTER eight years as a quadriplegic, Christopher Reeve has defied medical science by regaining limited sensation and movement in his body.
Reeve鈥檚 regimen includes two hours weekly on a special bicycle that moves his muscles with electrical stimulation, and aquatherapy, which allows him to practise the regained movements in water. Though he is unlikely to reach his goal of being able to walk again by age 50 鈥� his 50th birthday is next week 鈥� he is able to feel pinpricks over 65 per cent of his body and can move some joints, such as his right wrist (Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, vol 97, p252).
鈥淚t鈥檚 remarkable to recover any sensation or movement whatsoever, so long after the injury has occurred,鈥� says John McDonald of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri, who has been treating Reeve.
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