A HORSERIDER who suffered the same accident that paralysed Superman actor Christopher Reeve is back in the saddle thanks to a revolutionary new treatment.

A year ago Thea Maxfield landed on her head after she was thrown from horse Fiorella.

She suffered a ‘hangman’s fracture’, the same break that paralysed and led to the premature death of Christopher Reeve.

Doctors told her to wear a neck brace and she was told not to ride for at least a year.

Yet she began riding after seven months after undergoing pioneering treatment from Aylesbury physiotherapist Don Gatherer, a former chief physiotherapist to the Great Britain Olympic Team.

It involves using technology used on Formula 1 drivers to accurately test muscle strength. A rehabilitation programme is then built around the computerised results.

She said: “He tested every single part of my upper body to see how much resistance I could take, he told me my strengths and weaknesses.”

She added: “Had I not had the treatment I would not had the confidence to get back on a horse and certainly not the level I am now. And, for me, horses are my passion, my life.”

Miss Maxfield is now planning on entering dressage competitions.

Mr Gatherer, who has worked with Olympic athletes, international rugby players and a Formula One driver, said: “Previously, Thea lacked strength but combined with using our patented harness that prevents excess loads from being applied, she has improved core strength to improve posture and stability.

“We can precisely measure the muscle strength, enabling us to create a safe training programme whilst ensuring forces exerting on the muscle during training are within guidelines.”

Immediately after the accident at Castle Grange Stud, Fringford, near Bicester, Miss Maxfield, 26, tried to get up but could not lift her head.

She said: “The horse was galloping around and I really wanted to get out of the way – although they say you should stay where you are.

“When I went to get up my head stayed on the ground and I had to use the front of my helmet to lift my head off the floor.

“I walked out of the school and I fainted.”

She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, with suspected whiplash but tests showed she had fractured two bones, her C2 and C3, at the top of her neck.

Miss Maxfield said: “Generally it’s a life-threatening accident and for those kept alive it often results in full paralysis.

“But I had no spinal damage and no damage to my brain.

“My helmet saved my life, I was very lucky.”