If you have hypertension, it's important to check your blood pressure regularly. Unfortunately, though, many people have "lab coat syndrome," (AKA "white coat syndrome") meaning that their blood pressure skyrockets when approached by a medical professional wearing a dreaded stethoscope.
Taking readings at home (and/or at work) will allow you to estimate your average blood pressure measurements in day-to-day, real-life situations. While there are many digital blood pressure units on the market, the cheapest -- and arguably, most reliable -- instrument is the China Sphygmomanometer manufacturers, or "manual kit," which is very similar to the unit your doctor uses.
Steps
- Remove the cuff, stethoscope, pressure gauge, and bulb (also known as a "bladder") from the kit, taking care to untangle the various tubes.
- Sit down at a table or desk where you can easily rest your arm so that when you bend your elbow, your elbow is parallel to your heart. (Some experts recommend you use your left arm; others suggest you test both arms. But while you're first adjusting to self-testing, use the left arm if you're right-handed, or vice versa.)
- Gently place the stethoscope's ear pieces in your ears.
- Bend the arm you're going to test.
- Wrap the cuff around your arm, slipping the top part of the cuff through the metal bar that's attached to the cuff. Most cuffs have Velcro, making it easy to keep the cuff in place.
- Make sure the cuff is snug, but not too tight -- if you cut off your circulation and become agitated, you're going to get an alarming blood pressure reading!
- Place the head of the stethoscope, that is, the round blank dial, just below (1-4 in. or 2.5-8 cm.) the armpit, near the inside middle side of the arm: that's the brachial artery. (You should hear a faint thumping sound.) To aid in finding this you can press two fingers (not your thumb) to the area where it should be and move around until you feel a pulse. There is usually a bluish line where the artery is.
- Take the other end of the China Sphygmomanometer manufacturers -- the end with the pressure gauge or dial -- and look for a little clip on the back. Attach that clip to something sturdy, such as a hardcover book, that you can place on the table. It's important to keep the gauge anchored and stable.
- Take the rubber bulb (or bladder) and tighten the little valve at the base; be sure to turn the valve all the way clockwise to shut it off.
- Pump the bulb using slow but very steady pressure until the needle on the gauge is at about 20-30 points above your usual systolic (top) number. Now, gently start turning the bulb's valve counter-clockwise so that air is released slowly and steadily.
- As you watch the needle fall back down the gauge, listen for a thumping sound. (The clinical name for this is "Korotkoff sounds.") Keep your eyes on the gauge -- when you first hear thumping, you have your systolic number, which represents the greatest amount of pressure exerted on the artery walls as your heart pumps blood.
- Keep watching the gauge. When the thumping fades to silence, you have your diastolic (bottom) number, the lowest amount of pressure.
Tips