How Reeve is learning to move

It was the moment Christopher Reeve realised there was light at the end of the tunnel.

The Superman star, paralysed in a riding accident in 1995, had just met the man who would keep alive the dream that he would one day walk again.

Inspired by Dr John McDonald, Reeve, 49, has defied medical opinion to regain some feeling and movement.

Dr McDonald, an expert in spinal injuries, believes the nervous system has the ability to regenerate itself through exercise.

Reeve started riding an electrical stimulation bicycle for an hour three times a week soon after meeting Dr McDonald in 1999.

After years of health problems from inactivity and poor circulation, being strapped onto the bike was his first attempt to change a life thought to be unchangeable.

His doctors are amazed at his extraordinary progress, which is charted in the documentary, Christopher Reeve: Courageous Steps, to be broadcast in the U.S. this week. Produced by Reeve's 23-year- old son Matthew, it shows his determination to overcome injuries that usually stop patients ever moving a muscle again.

Reeve's exercise bike is fitted with electrodes that zap his hamstrings, leg and buttock muscles, jolting them into pushing the pedals.

In addition, an electrical muscle-stimulating machine is run over different parts of his body each day.

In the autumn of 2000, he was rewarded with a breakthrough. His wife Dana noticed he was moving the index finger of his left hand.

Follow-up tests performed by Dr McDonald showed that when he did so, 'the appropriate area of the brain activated, just like it would in a normal person'. Thrilled and hopeful, Reeve recalled: 'We ramped up the exercises and said, "We're going to see how far we can go".'

Later, he added 90 minutes of water therapy once a week.

At his first session, aides held him up so he could slowly flop his legs forward to make his way across the pool.