The unnamed 71-year-old patient was left unable to walk, or to pinch or grip with either of his hands after the crash in 2008. He was still able to use his arms.
The nerves in his hand were not damaged, but had lost the signal from the brain which gave them instructions. The brain could still send signals to the upper arm. Doctors at the Washington University School of Medicine in the US rewired the nerves in the arm to build a new route from brain to hand.
After eight months of physiotherapy, he is now able to feed himself once more and has a limited ability to write again.
The procedure, documented in the Journal of Neurosurgery, is the first case of its kind and has been described as a "significant breakthrough". However, the authors of the report say that the technique used would only be effective in a limited number of cases.
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