Blood pressure monitor: wrist or upper arm
Perhaps you suffer from high blood pressure and your doctor says you should check your blood pressure regularly. When looking for the right blood pressure monitor, you probably noticed that there are blood pressure monitors for the wrist and upper arm today. The different devices are recommended depending on personal preference. Find out in this guide how the devices work and what to look for when buying.
Differences between the wrist and the upper arm
There is a large selection of blood pressure monitors for the wrist and upper arm to be found today. However, the various devices have a few differences that you should be aware of.
- If you want to measure your blood pressure, you need to be rested and seated.
- The cuff, which inflates on the wrist or upper arm, should be at heart level so that the most accurate result possible is achieved.
- If you measure your blood pressure on your wrist, it may therefore be necessary to place your hand on the arm of the sofa or on a table in order to reach this height.
- Since a blood pressure monitor that measures on the wrist is easier to use than measurement on the upper arm, many people opt for the device on the wrist. Especially single people can put on the cuff relatively easily.
- If you also decide to take the measurement on the wrist, you must note that the result is a little less accurate than measured on the upper arm.
Do you have high blood pressure and your doctor recommends regular measurements? …
Still, you can put such a device to good use to your Blood pressure to monitor. However, you have to make sure that the conditions are always the same:
- You have rested for at least five minutes.
- Your wrist is at heart level.
- The device is calibrated.
- You will also have your upper arm blood pressure checked at regular intervals by your doctor or pharmacy.
A wrist cuff is not suitable if you suffer from diabetes mellitus, cardiac arrhythmias or hardened arteries, as these Diseases can lead to measurement errors. People with very narrow or wide wrists may also need to take the measurement on the upper arm Dodge, as wrist cuffs are generally only made for the average wrist will.
Understand the blood pressure monitor
Many people use a blood pressure monitor on their upper arm or wrist without knowing how accurately the device is measuring.
- Our blood is pumped through the heart at a certain pressure into the main artery and from there it is forwarded to the outgoing arteries.
- If you put a blood pressure cuff on your upper arm or wrist and pump it up, the blood will build up because the cuff has created a barrier.
- If you now slowly release the pressure, you can at some point perceive a pulsating sound at the congested artery through a stethoscope. This is the Korotkow sound, which corresponds to the systolic blood pressure, i.e. the force with which the heart sends the blood into the body's circulation.
- Now you have to wait for the time when the Korotkow sound disappears again. This point is to be equated with the lower blood pressure value; the blood now flows through the blood vessels again without resistance.
- When buying a blood pressure monitor with a cuff for the upper arm or wrist, it is important that the cuff is correctly positioned. If it is too large or small, blood pressure values that are too low or too high are displayed.
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