Background
Rainer was born in Graz, Austria-Hungary.
Rainer was born in Graz, Austria-Hungary.
He is believed to have suffered from acromegaly. In 1917, at age 18, he was measured at 122.55 cm (4 ft 025 in). A typical defining characteristic of dwarfism is an adult height below 147 cm (4 ft 10 in).
Then, likely as a result of a pituitary tumor, he had a dramatic growth spurt so that by 1931 he had reached a height of 218 cm (7 ft 2 in).
As a result of his gigantism he became bedridden for the rest of his life. When he died in 1950 he had reached a height of 234 cm (7 ft 8 in).
His feet measured 33.3 cm (131 inches), going from EUR shoe size 43 (United States size 10) at aged 19 to size 53 (United States 20) only three years later. His hands measured 23.9 cm (94 inches) and he weighed 109 kg (241 pounds).