A Look at Blood Pressure and How to Take Your Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure that is exerted by the circulating volume of blood on the chambers of the heart, veins and arterial walls. When our blood pressure is taken it is displayed as two numbers the systolic number which is the top number and represents the ventricles contracting forcing blood into the aorta and the diastolic which is the lower number represents the pressure within the artery between beats. The pulse pressure is what the difference is between the diastolic and systolic numbers.

A sphygmomanometer is the device that is used for measuring your blood pressure. A cuff is inflated on the top of your arm over the patients artery to compress the artery, when the cuff is slowly deflated the medical professional that is taking your blood pressure will listen to the brachial artery with a stethoscope and hear the pulsating sounds. The first sound heard is what is considered the systolic pressure and the last sound heard is the diastolic.

When a person's upper extremities are not accessible to take a blood pressure the lower extremities can be used. The popliteal artery which is located behind the knee is the site that will be used for auscultation. When taking a blood pressure through this means one must use a cuff that will be long enough to fit around the girth of the thigh. The placement should be in alignment with the bladder over the posterior part of the mid thigh.

There are many devices that can be used to take someone's blood pressure. Aneroid manometer and cuff are your typical blood pressure cuffs that are mostly commonly used and seen. Wall-mounted aneroid sphygmomanometer is commonly used in hospital settings, these devices are the ones that are seen mounted on the wall behind a hospital bed. Electronic sphygmomanometer can be purchased in any drug store and display the results electronically so that you do not need to listen with a stethoscope these devices are convenient for the person who needs to take their blood pressure on a day to day schedule and have trouble using the normal aneroid manometer and cuff style. A Doppler can also be used over the brachial artery but will not provide a diastolic number.

Blood pressure is differentiated by five Korotkoff phases:

Phase 1: A sharp thump

Phase 2: A blowing or whooshing sound

Phase 3: A softer thump than phase 1

Phase 4: A softer blowing sound that fades

Phase 5: Silence