How to measure blood pressure

Each of us must possess the necessary minimum of medical intervention. Should I run a clinic, to spend the nerves, and sometimes money, to invite the doctor to measure blood pressure, an injection or, say, the vapor supply pipe? Certainly not worth it. These and most easily master.

So, proceed to the measurement of blood pressure (BP). It is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg. Art.). BP includes the top, or the maximum (systolic) and lower, or the minimum (diastolic). It is believed that in the normal systolic blood pressure in adults ranges from 100 to 140 mm Hg. Art. and diastolic blood - from 60 to 90 mm Hg. Art. If blood pressure is high (ie above the upper limit of the maximum or minimum), then we can talk about high blood pressure, and if dropped - on the hypotension. Of course, in each case the presence of hypertension or hypotension, to judge a doctor, but for the everyday practice of these figures is enough to make himself the necessary conclusions, especially in extreme conditions - say, in severe bleeding, collapse or shock - the figures are quite BP informative.

Blood pressure - an important indicator of the body. BP was measured using a special device - the tonometer (a device sold in pharmacies or stores medproma). The principle of its operation is based on listening to the so-called Korotkoff sounds - their appearance is related to the pulsation of the artery.

Sit on a chair, revealing a left hand. Put it on the table. On the forearm (in the biceps), put a rubber sleeve so that the tube connected to a blower and a pressure gauge went to the upper surface of the forearm near the elbow. With a stethoscope to the projection of the brachial artery (at the bend of the elbow), pumped air into the cuff of a pear to figures in excess of the upper blood pressure. At the same artery under the cuff is flattened, as determined by lack of pulse waves in the listening. Then slowly release the air from the cuff, and as soon as the pressure in it equals the upper blood pressure, artery cotton short shrift. Artery wall lead into the swing of the surrounding tissue on the surface of your hands at this moment you hear the sound, with fixed numbers of maximum (systolic) pressure. With a further reduction in pressure in the cuff whenever it coincides with the blood, hear the sounds in the stethoscope. But here is the air pressure has reached the lower blood pressure - artery finally cracked down, and the sounds disappear. This, we register the value of the lower (diastolic) blood pressure. Thus, the Korotkoff sounds (Korotkov NS - Russian doctor who first made a presentation on a new and very simple method of measuring blood pressure) tapped only when the air pressure in the cuff is changed from upper to lower blood pressure.