More PT Info
PT seems to be moving along well for me. At todays appointment I was again on the step machine. It’s called a NuStep. This machine basically allows stepping motion and you can control the resistance. I was doing it on wed. with the boot on at at a resistance of 5 out of 10. Today I did it for 7 minutes with the resistance set at 1, but without the boot on. Interesting feeling at first, but felt decent once I got going. Below are some photos of the exercises I am doing at home.
This is simply done with the resistance band over the foot and pointing the toe. I have progressed from using the red band to using the green and blue. I do about 30 reps, 2x a day.
This exercise is done by wrapping the resistance band behind my ‘good’ foot and then holding it in my hand. I move my right foot in an outward motion, keeping the lower leg still so all the motion is with the ankle area. 30-50 reps, 2x a day. I have progressed from the red band to the green.
This one is basically the opposite of the exercise above. In order to generate resistance in the opposite direction, I cross my left leg over the top of my right, then pull the band behind my right foot, which is actually on the left and hold it in my hand. I work by moving my injured foot to the left, again using the ankle and not rotating the leg.
This is a photo of the mini BAPS board they gave me. You can kind of see the bulb on the bottom. I position the foot on the board so no edges are touching first, then do a few reps moving the board to touch toe edge and heel edge back and forth. The key to all of these is stability so you need to do th exercises with as much control as possible. Then I do some reps side to side. Next I do counterclockwise circles, then clockwise circles. It was hard at first, but I am making a lot of progress now. You need to have your knee 90 degrees and directly over the foot. I started this sitting and now am doing its standing while holding onto a rail and slowly adding more and more pressure. BAPS stands forBiomechanical Ankle Platform System. This board is pretty easy for me now, but the one the PT office has is larger and roundish shaped. 
They are putting larger bulbs on the bottom so there is more range of motion challenge and the board is largeer and they can add wieght to it which significantly changes the exercise. Here is a photo of a real BAPS board showing the weights on the left, and the bulbs that go on the bottom in the front.
