Hi MichelleSara1,
Yes, he's a gorgeous dog. You did not mention a diagnosis, did your vet do any tests?
Without knowing any test results but going by the description of how it happened playing ball, and seeing his feeling is coming back, it kind of sounds like a spinal stroke (FCE or fibrocartilaginous embolism). If it was, the vast majority of dogs with FCE will recover and go on to live normal lives. The physio you are doing will help.
You will want to do something about the chewing right away. The theory is, it is like when we humans sleep on our arm and it goes numb, then it tingles like crazy when it starts to wake back up. As his feeling is returning, he may be feeling a pins and needles sensation or some similar nerve sensations that are really bothering him, so he will lick and chew to try to address it.
Unfortunately, some dogs have self-mutilated from this problem, chewing off toes, private parts, and very sadly I know of 3 dogs who had to be put down because they did so much damage before the owner knew it had happened. You can't be home to watch him every minute, and you can't stay awake every night.
The solution is a medication called gabapentin. I would explain the chewing to the vet and ask for a prescription right away. You don't want him to injure himself. Chewing is a phase some dogs go through during recovery. It is not likely to be permanent but he is experiencing these funny feelings right now as his nerves are recovering.
In the past before they discovered the usefulness of gabapentin for this, people tried other solutions, such as putting the dog in a cone collar, wrapping the feet, putting a bitter tasting spray or gel on to discourage chewing, but none of these are really effective. Dogs tend to chew in spite of Bitter Apple or Yuk-2-E, and they can get out of a cone collar and remove bandages, so I strongly recommend asking the vet about the medication. However, if you have a cone collar at home, I would put him in it temporarily till you can get the medication started, it is better than nothing.
If your vet did tests or gave you a diagnosis, I'd love to hear what he said. It sounds like your dog is on the road to recovery, and you have good reason to be optimistic.