Posted by sam at February 24th, 2005
One of the biggest problems with being tall is finding clothes that fit. At 6′6″, most clothing manufacturer’s simply don’t think about making you clothes. The market simply isn’t big enough.
Now, I’m not talking about normal clothes, I’m talking about cool clothes. I can go to a big and tall store and buy suits and nerdy lookin stuff, but if I want to wear clothes that have style I either have to wear them small (removing their stylistic appeal), or have the custom tailored or made from scratch.
Long Sleeve shirts are the biggest problem. I can find pants just fine because I tend to sag anyway, and with short sleeve shirts it doesn’t really matter how long your arms are. If I buy and Extra Large shirt then the sleeves might just be long enough, but the shirt is wide enough for an african family of pigmies to use as a tent.
Jackets are the worst. I bought a new jacket at Savers yesterday and it’s so freakin sweet but the sleeves are not long enough. Fortunatly it’s a style that allow me to roll up the sleeves a bit and you can’t really tell. But because of limited material, and alteration would be very difficult.
That is why I have gone through with an arm shortening operation. The doctors removed 3 1/4″ sections of my radius and ulna and 4 1/4″ section out of my humorous. This removes almost 2 inches from each arm, and makes large and some medium shirts fit by default.
At first, living with shorter arms was difficult. As soon as my arms healed up I went for a drive and had to move my seat up closer to my steering wheel. Now my legs are more cramped up while my arms are comfortable. Automakers do not consider people who have abnormal body size ratios when they make cars.
Basketball also became more difficult. Not that I play a lot, but now I have to bounce the ball higher to reach my hands, or hunch over more to bring my hands closer to the floor. Shooting has not changed noticably.
The shirts that I DO have that fit are now too long. They will need top be altered to go back to their original sizes, or I will have to roll them up.
My muscles look much bigger now. They did not shorten those, so they are the same size as before, but bunched up by an inch or so each. Pushups and pull ups are also much easier, not because my muscles are bigger (they are still the same strength), but because I have less distance to travel.
From looking at me, you can’t really tell the difference (except for the bigger muscles). Usually your arms hit you in a certain place, but since I sag my pants a little, and my shirts aren’t always long enough, I don’t look quite proportional anyway.
You would be suprised how shorter arms bring you closer to everything. When I used to hug people, especially girls, my arms would go all the way around them and then come back on themselves. It was like I was hugging myself. This can cause some embarassment when hands go places they shouldn’t (at least not when youre hugging someone). My arms were long enough that I could cop a feel while I was hugging a girl.
Now hugs are less akward (I still have to bend down), but my arms go to the right places.
I think the operation was a good idea. The doctor let me keep the sections of bone that were removed and I used them to make beads for a necklace. Now I wear my arm areound my neck.
