On Monday I had a review assessment with the physio to see how my balance had changed since the one I had in September. Rather surprisingly my scores had generally improved, which is contradictory to how I’ve actually been feeling about my balance, and the amount of stumbles I’m having.
The biggest news from the session though is that, having watched me through a number of walking exercises, Emma saw the particular way my left ankle and foot was moving (or not). She recommended I try a soft splint on my left ankle, that then has an elastic loop that goes around hooks into the lace eyelets and helps to lift the front of the foot up. This made an immediate difference, if nothing else making a feeling that both feet were doing the same thing. Having tried it around both side of the laces (so bringing my foot up centrally), we then tried it just around the left side, thus bringing the outside of my foot up more than the other. This felt even more “normal”. I’m not suggesting it suddenly fixed my balance, but it felt like my left foot was working more normally, I didn’t have it catching on the floor, and consequently I simply felt far more confident walking.
Unfortunately there wasn’t one available for me to take with me, but one has been ordered and I’ll go back in 2 or 3 weeks to get it and be shown how to put it on properly.