I was born with feet in the 1st percentile of the population and they stayed that way even despite getting taller. Now every shoe shopping experience is awkward af.
Do you happen to sprain your ankles often? Just wondered if it felt like you were less balanced than other similarly sized men or did your brain just adjust and accommodate for the lack of leverage naturally subconsciously?
I have sprained my ankles in the past but not since I was a teenager…maybe adjusting to my growth spurt when I was still wearing size 1s haha. Now I’m fine I guess I have adjusted. Of course, I’ve never been normal-footed so don’t have a point of reference but yeah I’m not falling over myself like a newborn fawn as you may think.
So valid! Thank you, and sorry for asking what may have felt like a poignant question
Get me a small man’s foot-suit, please.
I get the reference!
Be careful what you wish for. Small feet on a man mean you’ll be sentenced to a life of small dick jokes. Which is certainly not the worst thing in the world but it isn’t great.
My message was a tenuous reference to Flight of the Conchords (New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-comedy duo). So it’s understandable that it was misunderstood, however, I did appreciate your thoughtful response.
Here’s the song if you need a laugh: https://youtu.be/yjfSZu246zE
You know it’s become a personal beef when you know the trade name of the device that insults you.
Haha yes indeed. You don’t know me Brannock device! Some men have footlets and that’s okay.
Some men have footlets and that’s okay.
What an odd childrens book this would be.
Insta-ban from Moms Against Liberty.
I think the word is “footsies”. /s
Is the size of your forearm same as your feet?
No my forearm is bigger
Do your feet hurt a lot? It sounds like a lot of pressure on a small area
The foot is a lever. A shorter lever has to bear less load.
Uh, no, that’s actually the opposite of how that works. Pressure is force per area, and torque is the cross product of force and length (at right angles). The smaller the area, the higher the pressure. The smaller the foot, in this case, the harder the muscles have to work to create the same torque (or moment). #ThanksForAttendingMyPhysics101TEDTalk
The foot bears more than 100% of your weight because it is cantilevered. The greater the cantilever, the greater the multiplier to the weight.
You’re arguing that a small foot has a small contact patch. But we need to be able to shift all our weight to our toes, and that contact patch is more a function of the width of your foot, not the length.
The smaller the foot, in this case, the harder the muscles have to work to create the same torque (or moment).
That’s backwards, a shorter lever arm requires less force. If you had a 10 foot long foot, you’d have to have insanely strong calf muscles to stand on your tip toes, because how far the load is from the fulcrum.
This isn’t totally true (about longer limbs=harder to exercise), because it doesnt take into account how myosin works on a longer muscle/surface area, along with how electrical differences between limbs and the torso help with electrical flow due to potential energy.
Look at a thoroughbred (fastest over medium distance), an Arabian (best for endurance), a quarter horse (fastest in burst over short distance) versus a donkey (stronger pound for pound than a horse but not faster), vs a mule (stronger than horse, faster than donkey). Keep in mind there’s different types of muscle development, eg burst vs long distance. Look at their legs. They are walking on (1) finger, look at where their ankle is. Their feet, like many animals, are angled completely differently than humans. Elephants have a similar foot to humans in that their sole contacts the ground, but obviously their feet don’t extend like ours (and they have bigger muscles). So it is interesting but I think theres more to it
It’s totally true from a physics standpoint. A longer lever arm between the load and fulcrum requires more force to move the same weight, all else being equal. Edit: thinking on this more, I think a type 3 lever is more applicable to my chest flye example, but the same concept applies; as you lengthen the load arm relative to the effort arm, more input force is required to move a given load.
“Harder to exercise” is poorly defined, especially when you go on to discuss endurance, speed, and force, all of which are very different terms.
I totally get what you’re saying, but I specifically narrowed it down to force for a reason. My shorter friends kick my ass in lifting due to the mechanical advantage their shorter limbs have, but I smoke them in a distance run because my longer limbs allow me to traverse a greater distance in a single step. This is complicated though because larger lungs are a factor here too.
True, i didn’t consider the point of contact.
That would be relevant to the calf muscles, but the lower surface area of the feet means higher pressure in terms of psi or pascals.
Yes I can confirm that there’s more pressure on my feet if my wearing out kids shoes every 6 months is anything to go by. They are not designed for a man of my height and weight!
Have you ever had custom shoes made? Or checked what adult little people wear? They may have some suggestions
Good question. You would think but my calf and foot muscles are quite strong to compensate for what I lack in foot surface area. They do get sore after a long day but nothing too crazy.
If your feet stay the same size why don’t you just order online? I know testing them out can be nice, but you can return online orders.
I can’t remember the last time I went shoe shopping in person, because I know my size and which companies I need a larger or smaller size shoe for. Also why would they keep measuring you if you know?
You’re right I usually do buy online. I only went in to a fancy running store that just opened up because I do run and was wondering if they had anything other than youth sizes so they had to measure me (and I took this photo because I thought it was hilarious). They did in fact have a better running shoe for me!
Glad you got it worked out, what kind of shoes did you end up buying if you don’t mind me asking?
My brothers feet are massive and he can never find shoes that fit properly. Mine are a bit wide, so I always have to get a size up to be comfortable, but I manage.
The feet might not change, but shoe sizes are not consistent. Even two shoes of the same make, model, and size can differ. When your feet are very small, the tolerances are also very small.
have you tried wearing kids size?
I pretty much can only wear kid’s sizes. But I was getting my foot measured because a new running store opened up that carries a women’s running shoe in a 5 and it runs small so with slightly thick socks I can fit in it fine. The first non-kids running shoes I’ve had in my life!
Do you have small hands too?
Yes they are. Like 5 3/4" in length which I think is pretty small. Luckily this issue didn’t affect any other parts of me!
I have size 16 shoes.
Unfortunately this issue didn’t affect any other parts of me 😐
Wow you must be tall!
6’6", almost 2 meters!
I have size 14 shoes. I also have a large head, large hands, and a large gut. Unfortunately I also don’t have any large parts beyond that list.
you knew folks were going to ask. good for you for getting ahead of it. hehe
Oh they always do! It’s all good I’m used to it!
Oh I was just trying to find a way to work that question about your dick into the conversation naturally.
Do you find your foot or hand size to grant you advantages in certain niche situations (ie getting the last pringle)?
I historically found that my flat feet make barefoot walking a lot easier - big, flat contact surface distributes the pressure over a wider area, making shrp rocks less painful/likely to cut.
Wow dude, that’s crazy. Like, in a cool way.
My great-uncle was very small when he was born - the family story is that he used to sleep in a shoe box instead of a crib until he was almost a year old.
Probably not your shoe box, though.
Haha bro thanks. And you’re right my shoe box would be too small for any baby!
Maybe the one from Slingblade
Some folks call it a Sling Blade, I call it a Kaiser Blade.
Mmmmmhm
Probably not your shoe box, though.>
Oh no, you didn’t
Are those Iron Man socks?
They’re just some random crayfish socks. I don’t have Ironman but have most other superhero socks, including my fave Spiderman socks
Heck yeah man, I wish they made Spiderman socks in my size!
Bruh was a deer in his past life
current
Accurate
My size (9) is constantly sold out. I was wondering if you experience fewer sold-out issues with your size.
I’m on the opposite end as OP, I wear size 14. They are very hard to find since most manufacturers and shoe stores only go up to 13, and a lot of the ones that go to higher have a very limited selection in larger sizes. I would imagine it’s similar at the lower end of shoe sizes.
Same problem here with size 13. Most stores maybe have a couple available in my size so I mostly just wear Nike since they consistently have my size available.
Yes can confirm it’s very hard to find age appropriate shoes in my size. Most are Velcro or have glitter or superheroes on them which is fine - I definitely have some of these as “house shoes” but finding proper dress shoes or boots is very tricky. Running shoes are also difficult to find as I’m below the threshold for women’s sizes.
Where would you find steel toed boots, I haven’t seen a child miner section section at most Walmarts
It is impossible to find steel toed boots in a size 3 I will tell you that much
I used to know a guy they called “Princess” because he had slightly smaller feet than average. He was a little short, very manly beard, muscular frame, deep voice. His feet weren’t even notably small or anything; he played football and you couldn’t really tell they were anything to write home about at all. Because they weren’t. He wore a size 40 I think, that’s like size 7 US. And yet: Princess.
Yes I sympathize. Kids and teenagers like to pick up on any kind of difference so you can imagine what they made of my size 3 feet even at a time when I was struggling to come to terms with it. It all seems stupid in retrospect like my feet aren’t deformed I’m just small pawed and really only a few inches smaller than “normal” feet but at the time it was the worst thing in the world
Are you built like a pirate from the knees down?
Dude this is insane. First I feel like you’d be more prone to falling over or something? Like top heavy?? But on the other hand you can probably go up most stairs without feeling like you’re about to fall to your death. I have average foot size for my height and all stairs I have to be on my tip toes. Honestly have wished I had smaller feet many times in my life. Thanks for sharing! Not something I ever thought was a thing.
I think that’s the normal way of walking upstairs. I bet even OP does it.
I thought the normal way was to crawl up on all fours like an animal
My balance is not too bad actually my body has had my whole life to adjust to its situation with my feet. I also go up stairs quickly on my tip toes but yeah I do always feel that stairs have ample room for my feet. Another positive is I pretty much never stub my toes.
