Was born with super small feet in the 1st percentile as well as hands due to a benign genetic issue. Totally healthy but shoe shopping is always awkward. Have decent balance and can walk and run fine as my calf muscles are quite developed to compensate. No, the myth isn’t true.
I’m 1.78m tall (random online converter says 5’10") and have average sized feet for my height, maybe slightly on the small side but well within normal range. My shoe size is 40-44 depending on the shoe, the shoe I’m looking at right now says size 44 is US size 10.5.
I have awful balance. I trip and lose my balance constantly. Perhaps counterintuitively, it’s nearly impossible for me to fall because I’ve gotten so good at catching myself every time I lose my balance. I constantly trip over stuff or lose my balance for no apparent reason but my reflexes have gotten so good at correcting for it that it’s basically a normal part of my gait, lol. Many people have been “impressed” (or concerned) about how I trip and recover and pretend like nothing happened, because for me it really is a normal occurrence.
I know it’s not super relevant for your topic but I just thought it’s interesting to share. Anecdotally, it seems that foot size doesn’t have that much to do with balance based on you and me.
Spend some time walking backwards and see if that helps.
Interesting tip. I’m really fine with the way things are right now though, so no need to try to fix it. Thanks either way, I might even try it some day!