Zoe Pearson was struck down by the condition five years ago

A Nottingham teenager is learning to walk again thanks to an oxygen chamber installed in her garage.

Zoe Pearson, 18, spends 90 minutes six days a week in her own spherical decompression chamber.

She began the therapy after suddenly developing reflex sympathetic dystrophy five years ago.

The rare condition means her brain wrongly tells her legs they are experiencing pain.

It was so bad it meant she could not even wear clothing on her legs and feet because of the agony it caused.

'Pain was awful'

She could not stand up, could not move her feet and her left hand because of the pain and contracted muscles.

Oxygen chambers are used to treat deep sea divers

But now she can walk with the aid of crutches and can independently use a wheelchair.

Miss Pearson said "I couldn't walk and I couldn't move my limbs - the pain was awful and I sat in bed all day.

"Now I'm up all day."

Miss Pearson first started using oxygen treatment at the MS Therapy Centre in Nottingham about 14 months ago.

The treatment helps reduce swelling which in turn reduces the pain.

At the clinic, Miss Pearson was having treatment three times a week.

Duvet and pillows

But research showed it was better to have more intensive treatment

So Miss Pearson's family, from Nuthall, decided to buy her own equipment - a �5,000 second-hand chamber bought from a family in Berkshire.

The hyperbaric chamber, which is saturated with oxygen, is a type which is used to treat deep sea divers.

Miss Pearson spends 90 minutes every day in the oxygen chamber

Her mother, Debbie Hobson, said: "When we started researching it, it is used more extensively in other countries.

"Clinics throughout the world use the treatment daily or even twice daily.

"Before she started the treatment, she couldn't stand, she couldn't move her feet, she couldn't use her left hand.

"It was quite impossible for her to walk.

"Now she has the full function of both hands and can walk - albeit with sticks."

The car was moved from the garage and the chamber installed - complete with a duvet and pillows so Miss Pearson can sleep in it.

Her mother said: "Sorting out a second-hand hyperbaric oxygen chamber is not the easiest thing.

"But it has made a phenomenal difference."