Few medical cases in history are as remarkable as that of Adam Rainer(1899 – 1950), an Austrian man who holds a unique and tragic distinction: he remains the only person in recorded history to have experienced both dwarfism and gigantism in a single lifetime.
Adam Rainer was born in 1899 in Graz, Austria-Hungary. He remained exceptionally small, thin, and physically weak as a child.
By 1917, when he was 18-year-old, he attempted to enlist in the Austro-Hungarian Army to fight in World War I, he was just 122.55 cm (4 feet 0.25 inches) tall at that time. Military officials promptly rejected him, deeming him too short for service.
Dwarfism is sometimes defined as being less than 147 centimeters (4 feet 10 inches) tall as an adult.
A year later, Adam tried to enlist again. Despite growing slightly, he was still too small to be accepted.
Interestingly, while Adam's stature was drastically below average but his hands and feet appeared normal-sized for his body, with a shoe size equivalent to a US 10 (EU 43).
Then something unprecedented began to happen.
While most males stop growing by age 21, but for Adam Rainer, this marked the beginning of an extraordinary and terrifying transformation. His feet started growing at an alarming rate, doubling in size to a US 20 (EU 57.5) in just three years.
Between his early twenties and early thirties, Adam experienced explosive growth at an average rate of 9.14 cm (3.6 inches) per year. By 1930, at age 31, he was 216 cm (7 feet 1 inch) tall.
Deeply concerned about Adam's condition, two physicians named Dr. Mandl and Dr. Windholz conducted extensive examinations between August 1930 and May 1931 at which time his height was 216 cm (7 ft 1 in). Their diagnosis revealed the culprit: a benign pituitary adenoma, a tumor on the brain's pituitary gland that was causing acromegaly.
The difference between gigantism and acromegaly lies primarily in timing. Both conditions result from excess growth hormone production, typically caused by a pituitary tumor:
Gigantism occurs when growth hormone hypersecretion happens before the long bones' growth plates fuse, usually in childhood or adolescence, resulting in excessive overall height.
Acromegaly develops when excess growth hormone is produced after these growth plates have fused in adulthood, leading to enlargement of the hands, feet, and facial features rather than increased height. 1
The symptoms of acromegaly include:
Massive enlargement of hands and feet
Coarsening of facial features
Spinal curvature (kyphoscoliosis)
Elongation of the jaw
Deep voice and obstructive sleep apnea 1
The prevalence of acromegaly is approximately 78 cases per million people, with an average age of presentation around 44 years.
According to NHS, Dwarfism or short stature also called Restricted growth, is when you are shorter than most people.
Restricted growth can be:
Proportionate: where your arms and legs are the expected size compared to the rest of your body
Disproportionate: where parts of your body grow differently (for example, having short arms and legs compared to the rest of your body)
a lack of growth hormone deficiency
rare genetic conditions such as Turner syndrome, Noonan syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome
problems affecting bone development
In the early 1930s, such surgery was extraordinarily dangerous. During this same period, Robert Wadlow, who was the tallest man recorded at 272 cm (8 feet 11 inches), was advised against a similar surgery due to the extreme risk of death.
Despite these concerns, Dr. Oskar Hirsch successfully performed the delicate operation to remove Adam's pituitary adenoma. It was a medical triumph of its time.
Unfortunately, the surgery could not reverse the damage already done. When examined months later, doctors discovered that while Adam's growth had slowed, it hadn't stopped completely. His spine had curved even more severely, and new complications emerged:
Complete loss of vision in his right eye
Loss of hearing in his left ear
Severe, persistent headaches
Progressive spinal curvature that left him bedridden
Unable to stand or walk, Adam was admitted to a care facility where he would spend the rest of his life.
On March 4, 1950, Adam Rainer died at age 51. His final measured height was 234 cm (7 feet 8 inches).
From being rejected by the military for being too short to becoming bedridden due to extreme height, Adam's life was marked by profound physical hardship.
1. Bello MO, Garla VV. Gigantism and Acromegaly. [Updated 2023 Mar 20]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538261/