When I was first told I had pn, my gp said that i was tall and it was often found in taller persons. I never thought of it again until this post. Im only 6'3"-6'4" (im shrinking) and took his word for it because he is by far the best dr. I've run across.

Anyone else heard of this theory?

I do remember reading something like this once too. Something like; taller people and flexible jointed people are more prone to connective tissue diseases. Don't remember where I found that.

That is interesting......do you think it could be, the taller the person, the longer the limbs and nerves, making more nerve there for more chance of damage?
If there was a circulatory condition causing pn, maybe having further to circulate?

Again, there aren't a lot of papers/studies that I can point to, but anecdotally, through this board and various other groups, there does seem to be a somewhat higher incidence of length-dependent neuropathy among the taller people, though this incidence seems to be more pronounced, from what I understand, among non-diabetics. ("Short" diabetic and impaired glucose tolerance people seem to get neuropathy symptoms around the same rate as "taller" ones do, however that is defined.)

I think northerngal has the right idea about the mechanism--those who are taller have longer nerves that might be more prone to compromise, whether through compressive or circulatory effects,than people whose nerve communications have shorter distances to travel.

I also suspect taller people may have more tendency to spinal problems and nerve root compression there, which can of course contribute to neural symptoms, and may be hard to distinguish from more peripheral symptoms. One orthopedist I know who treats a lot of athletes (he's a consultant to the NY Jets) speaks about the this tendency; he's said it's easier to compress/herniate discs, for example, when the spine is longer.

My podiatrist, who was really the first to diagnose me, instantly cited my height as a contributing factor. He said the neurologist who diagnosed me with bilateral carpal tunnel several years earlier was an idiot as that combined with being 6'2" (ridiculously tall for a woman), was a red flag.

I also have multiple nerve entrapments. The neurologist at Johns Hopkins found them everywhere he looked. He tested for HNPP but it was negative. One of my sons has had surgery to release an elbow entrapment, but that was either caused or aggravated by a car accident.

I was also very flexible when I was younger, as were my sons, both of whom have inherited the neuropathy. They are each 6'4". With CMT height shouldn't be an issue but I think it may show up earlier and move faster if you are extremely tall, the length of the nerves seems to make a difference.

An insurance company in an accident case tried to claim that my son had Marfan's syndrome. We do have some of the markers including unusually long arms, but not the others. His doctor joked that it would have been the first time a car accident caused Marfan's.

Hey Susanne! You bring up a lot of good points. I was also slated for a Marfan's diagnosis but luckily it's not that bad. And it would be something if a car crash caused a genetic disorder. The whole medical field would turn on its head!

HNPP sounds just like me. I don't know how you would diagnosis it though apart from getting an EMG just at the right time.

Check out this site on HNPP. It tells all about it and how it is diagnosed.

http://www.hnpp.org/genetics.htm

Simply put there is a deletion with HNPP and a duplication with CMT1A.

As far as CMT goes it depends on the type of CMT a person has as to when it shows up or progresses. I don't see any evidence that CMT shows up earlier or moves faster if you are tall. Just referring to CMT. CMT is an "inherited" peripheral neuropathy.

There are over 70 types of CMT identified so far and there is no end in sight. A lot of us have the more common types. The type would be an answer to CMT showing up earlier or moving faster. In the case of CMT it is not because a person is tall. It is an equal opportunity syndrome.

Sorry to get off topic here...but how did you know you had nerve entrapments--did they show up in an emg/ncv? I've read where diabetic neuropathy has responded to entrapment surgery and wondered if other types of pn would too.

They spent about 2 hours on my EMG/NCS at Hopkins, after keeping me under a heat lamp for half an hour- I was freezing. When he found the first ulnar nerve entrapment he went to the other arm and found another. They did do the genetic test for HNPP because of that, but it was negative, so CMT type 2 stood. He seemed to feel there was no point in further testing, and never suggested surgery.
I wondered too if surgery would help, but it flares up and goes away so maybe it isn't like the type where they can release the nerve. Since it is progressive and the nerves are deteriorating it is a different situation. My son was in constant pain before his surgery, with numbness, and did get immediate relief.
I still think height is an aggravating factor in all length dependent neuropathies, and CMT is highly idiosyncratic- everyone seems to be affected differently. It is like the pain component- many people with CMT do not have pain and retain feeling in their feet and legs, but if I have severe SFN with no small nerve fibers I am going to have a lot of pain, whether the cause is CMT, diabetes or something else.