L’Equipe said according to its sources, medics treating the German Formula One champion, who has been in an artificial coma since his skiing accident on December 29, started the phase of gradual awakening this week.The news comes as Schumacher enters his fifth week of a medically induced coma, and there are fears he may remain in a 'persistent vegetative state' for the rest of his life even if the awakening treatment is successful.The national newspaper, devoted to sport, wrote: 'After four consecutive weeks in a coma, Michael Schumacher has been placed, according to our information, in a phase of gradual awakening. It is a slow and uncertain process of return... Michael Schumacher is responding positively to the process, started this week.'In the case of traumatic brain injury, such as that sustained by Schumacher, doctors sometimes induce a coma. Shutting down function can give the brain time to heal.To end the coma the dosage of powerful aneasthetic drugs being administered is gradually reduced. Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm reiterated that speculation about his condition should be ignored. In a statement she said: 'I insist again on the fact that any statement on the health of Michael Schumacher that does not come from the medical team in charge or his management is just speculation.'Seven-time world champion Schumacher, 45, has been receiving round-the-clock care in Grenoble Hospital since December 29 when he hit his head on a rock while skiing off-piste in Meribel, in the French Alps. His wife Corinna, 44, with whom the champion has two children Gina Marie, 16, and Mick, 14, has remained at his bedside. The family has received more than 1000 letters of support.In a statement, the family said: 'We are deeply touched by all the messages to get well soon for Michael which are still being sent. That gives us strength. Thank you all so much... We all know he is a fighter and will not give up.'Yesterday it was revealed that Schumacher is being given muscle training in order to stop his muscles from withering away.The Formula One star is receiving muscle therapy so that his body will not seize up as he stays sedated in intensive care in Grenoble following his ski accident four weeks ago.He was placed into an artificially induced coma shortly after the crash, but such measures normally last only a maximum of two weeks.'Patients in comas need limbs and joints moved daily to ensure muscles do not atrophy,' emergency medicine expert Professor Heinzpeter Moecke told The Sun.One Austrian website reported Schumacher, 45, may suffer from Apallic Syndrome or persistent vegetative state.Jean-Marc Orgogozo, Professor of Neurology at the University of Bordeaux, said: 'Every day, every week in a coma the chances decline that the situation is improving'.The the support of his wife Corinne, 44, his two teenaged children, brother and closest friends cannot mask the fact that more than four weeks in an artificial coma means that he is far from anywhere near recovery.A persistent vegetative state is one in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness.This means that if doctors do bring him out of his artificially induced coma he would be unable to speak, move or feed himself.The format.at news website said; 'More than three weeks after the tragic skiing accident of the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, hope dwindle for a  full recovery.'For more than three weeks now Schumacher lies in a medically induced coma at the University Hospital in Grenoble. He is fed there with probes, washed daily and moved again and again to avoid a bed sores.' It goes on to speculate that the 'severe damage' he suffered to his brain in a ski accident on December 29 could result in the permanent vegative state suffered by around 10,000 of his German countrymen.This would mean, if and when he is brought out of the coma by his medical team, 'that his condition would hardly be different from the medically induced coma'. Apallic Syndrome is always the result of a severe brain injury. The chance of recovery from Apallic Syndrome are far below 50 per cent.'Schumacher's condition remains stable but there is a firewall of silence from his medical team about the intense battle being waged to try to bring him back to normality. Brain injury patients are placed into artificial comas to reduce the amount of oxygen that flows into the brain, thus making it work less and giving it time to heal.Such comas usually last for a maximum of two weeks, although there have been instances of patients being under longer.  As Schumacher enters his fourth week in such a state neurological experts are starting to doubt whether he might ever recover sufficiently to be brought out of his sleep.Meanwhile, his family have paid tribute to Bundesliga sides Cologne and Schalke on the Formula One legend’s official website. Players from both sides held up a banner which read ‘Get Well Soon! You can do it, Michael’ prior to their friendly on Saturday in honour of the 45-year-old German, who is a Cologne supporter.The message from the seven-time champion’s family is the first in over a fortnight and comes just days after it was confirmed that he is in a stable condition at Grenoble Hospital.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az