A palpable pulse is the rhythmic sensation of blood being pushed through your arteries that can be felt with your fingertips. This feeling is a direct result of your heart’s contraction, which propels blood out into the body’s vast network of blood vessels. Feeling this pulse provides immediate, non-invasive feedback about how effectively the circulatory system is functioning and serves as a basic indicator of a person’s overall physical condition.
Understanding the Pulse Wave
The feeling beneath your fingers is not the blood itself moving, but rather a pressure wave traveling along the arterial walls. When the heart’s ventricles contract during systole, they rapidly push a volume of blood, known as the stroke volume, into the aorta.
This sudden surge of fluid creates a wave of pressure that momentarily stretches the elastic walls of the arteries. As this pressure wave propagates away from the heart, it is transmitted much faster than the actual flow of the blood. The elasticity of the arterial walls allows them to expand and recoil with each heartbeat, making this wave detectable at points close to the skin’s surface. The pulse wave represents the difference between the peak pressure (systolic pressure) and the resting pressure (diastolic pressure) within the vessel.
Common Sites for Pulse Palpation
To successfully locate and feel the pulse, a specific technique should be employed using the pads of your index and middle fingers. Never use your thumb to check a pulse, as the thumb has a small, often noticeable pulse of its own that can be confused with the person’s pulse you are trying to measure. The pressure applied must be firm enough to feel the artery against an underlying structure, such as a bone, but not so hard that you compress the vessel completely and stop the blood flow.
The most accessible location for self-checking is the radial artery, found on the thumb side of the inner wrist where the artery runs close to the bone. Place your two fingers just below the base of the palm, in the groove between the tendon and the bone. Once located, count the number of beats felt over a period of 60 seconds to determine the heart rate, or count for 30 seconds and multiply by two for a quicker assessment.
The carotid artery is another common site, located in the neck, lateral to the trachea (windpipe). To find it, gently slide your fingers into the soft groove beside the larynx. Take care never to press both carotid arteries at the same time, which could impede blood flow to the brain. Because this artery is larger and closer to the heart, the pulse felt here is stronger and more reliable than the one at the wrist, especially in emergency situations.
Healthcare professionals often use other locations for specific blood pressure measurements or circulation checks. These peripheral pulses are important in clinical settings to monitor for conditions that might compromise circulation in the limbs.
Other Palpation Sites
- The brachial artery in the inner elbow.
- The popliteal artery behind the knee.
- The dorsalis pedis artery on the top of the foot.
- The posterior tibial artery near the ankle.
What Pulse Qualities Reveal About Health
Palpating a pulse offers more information than just the heart rate; it reveals three significant qualities about cardiovascular performance. The Rate is the number of beats per minute (BPM). A typical resting heart rate for an adult falls between 60 and 100 BPM.
Deviations from this normal range can suggest various physiological states, such as a very low rate in highly conditioned athletes or an elevated rate during fever or stress. A rate below 60 BPM is known as bradycardia, and a rate above 100 BPM is known as tachycardia. A consistently high resting rate, even without exertion, may place undue strain on the heart muscle over time.
The Rhythm assesses the pattern of the beats. A healthy pulse should be regular, meaning the time interval between successive beats remains consistent. An irregular rhythm, or arrhythmia, can feel like skipped beats or random variations in the time between pulsations. A consistently chaotic rhythm may indicate an underlying electrical issue in the heart’s conduction system, such as atrial fibrillation, requiring medical attention.
The Amplitude, sometimes referred to as the strength or volume of the pulse, is the third quality. This is a subjective measure of how forcefully the pressure wave expands the arterial wall against the fingertips. A strong or “bounding” pulse might suggest high blood pressure, while a very weak or “thready” pulse indicates the heart is not pumping effectively. A thready pulse can suggest serious issues like hypovolemia or heart failure, as the pressure wave lacks sufficient force. Assessing these three qualities provides a quick snapshot of the heart’s function and the overall status of the circulatory system.