Christopher Reeve’s Media Presence a Mixed Blessing for FES Researchers

by James Cavuoto, editor

Renewed media attention to Christopher Reeve, the actor/director who became paralyzed by spinal cord injury, has presented a rare flash of publicity to functional electrical stimulation researchers. But not all the attention is focused on areas of great promise in the treatment of SCI and some of the information being disseminated is scientifically unproven or questionable.

Much of the current round of publicity has been generated to coincide with Reeve’s new book, Nothing is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life. But Reeve has also been in the news because of reports of improvement in his condition. Since his injury six years ago, Reeve has regained the ability to move his right wrist, the fingers of his left hand, and his feet. He can now feel a pin prick on the majority of his body and can move some of his joints voluntarily. Reeve attributes much of his improvement to activity-based rehabilitation, which includes an FES bicycle and treadmill training.

In September, television network ABC aired a video called Christopher Reeve: Courageous Steps, directed by Reeve’s son Matthew, that shows the actor undergoing therapy in a pool and on the FES system. Reeve and his wife Dana also appeared on the Larry King Live show to discuss his new sensory and motor capabilities. But the actor’s comments to callers were felt by some to be overly optimistic about activity based rehabilitation. And while Reeve promotes the use of FES in therapeutic rehabilitation, he has little to say about the development of implantable prostheses that restore function to SCI patients. Instead, he advocates for a cure to paralysis that might result from stem cell therapy, new drugs, or spinal cord regeneration.

Reeve has worked with John McDonald of Washington University in St. Louis, a pioneer in FES and neural regeneration. And while McDonald has been cautious in his public statements, he has received some criticism from researchers who do not approve of his public statements prior to publication in the scientific literature.