Why should I have my pulse checked?

Dr Mike Knapton says:

A sophisticate holding a patient ’ randomness wrist to take their pulse is a classical medical trope. now we understand that this childlike examination could play a significant part in stroke prevention .
The pulse is normally taken from the radial artery, which can be felt at the wrist, where a watchband normally sits, in argumentation with the basal of the hitchhike. It should be felt with two or three fingers of the early hand .
A normal pulse will have a regular rate of about 70 beats per infinitesimal but can be lower or higher. An irregular pulse can be caused by a count of heart rhythm disturbances, but the most coarse is atrial fibrillation ( AF ) .

Pulse crack could play a meaning separate in accident prevention

Reading: Why should I have my pulse checked?

The affection has a natural pacesetter. This sends out a regular electric pulsation that causes the heart to contract, creating the pulsate. When person has AF, impulses fire off from different places in the atrium ( the two upper berth heart chambers ), causing chaotic electrical activity, which means an irregular, and sometimes fast, pulsate .
AF can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath or palpitations, but many people have no symptoms. however, because AF is estimated to increase your risk of stroke by five times, it ’ south significant to know whether you have it, so you can reduce your risk.

This means it ’ s a good mind to check your pulse, or get your doctor or harbor to do it for you. You can have a pulsate arrest as share of an NHS Health Check, which is available to all those over 40 who haven ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate already been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease or another long-run health condition .
If you have an irregular pulse, the next step is to have an electrocardiogram ( ECG ) to confirm whether you have AF. Anticoagulation medication ( either warfarin or a newer oral anticoagulant drug such as dabigatran, rivaroxaban or apixaban ) can reduce the risk of having a stroke by thinning the blood and reducing the hazard of blood clots.

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Meet the expert

Dr Mike Knapton is Associate Medical Director ( Prevention and Care ) at the BHF, overseeing the strategic function in helping patients and the populace reduce their hazard of heart disease. He remains a GP and works one day a workweek at a practice in Cambridge .