24 hour blood pressure monitor – how should i position my arm?
Friday, March 5th, 2010 at
2:52 am
AJ asked:
i am wearing a 24 hour holter for blood pressure – does it make a difference what position my arm is in?
I thought it needs to be on a table – parallel with my heart
i am wearing a 24 hour holter for blood pressure – does it make a difference what position my arm is in?
I thought it needs to be on a table – parallel with my heart
Tagged with: 24 Hour • Blood Pressure Monitor • Holter
Filed under: Blood Pressure
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no,when it starts inflating just lower your arm,their is no need to rest as as it is a 24 hour one.just dont have your arm above your head cleaning windows as it inflates not that it will make any diffrence,you are meant to carry on as normal that is whole point of test
When it takes it, sit if you can and rest your arm downwards… try to relax your arm as best as you can.
Because the readings you get on the monitor aren’t real (that is, they’re NOT measurements of your true arterial pressures, only indirect reflections of true ones) it really doesn’t matter, -so long as you ensure that every time the cuff inflates, it’s the same place and location and ‘aspect’ every time. In this way, you can compare ‘like’ with ‘like’.
Yes, it makes a difference whether your arm is hanging by your side, resting on a table, or even extended above your head, and you’ll get different readings in each of these positions,
BUT: -…………..only CHANGES are real, so you can position your arm any way you like, -as long as you compare like with like, from reading to reading.
Even then, you won’t be able to make sense of the readings.. Doctors can’t… they only pretend to. The readings on your monitor are direct reflections of the work your heart is doing, and this (of course) bears almost no relationship with time. Excepting the Circadian Rhythm and regular mealtimes, sleep, etc. But you can alter the “readings” in any way you want, simply by staying inactive the whole 24 hors, or playing Football, having sex, or getting drunk… So this is why the test is almost meaningless. Do it 5 separate days, you’ll 5 different results, some “no abnormality” and some “catastrophic”, and anything in between..
There IS a way to interpret the results…. so as they make sense, but very few of us know it… The medical profession doesn’t want to know it, -they aren’t even interested