You do what you can to avoid high blood pressure. But when you go in for your physical, are you getting it measured correctly?
Johns Hopkins University researchers did a study and found some high blood pressure diagnoses have been wrong because of how your arm is positioned when doctors put the cuff on.
They looked at when your arm is supported on a desk, when it’s on a patient’s lap, and when it’s hanging at the side – and the best way to do it is when an arm is on a desk or table and the cuff is at heart level.
This is how it’s set when you use the machine at the grocery store, and how it’s been recommended for many years, but not every doctor’s office does it that way. And it makes a big difference. By as much as seven points it can misdiagnose hypertension, which may make a doctor prescribe medication you may not need.
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