Q: I use a wrist monitor device to measure my blood pressure. My doctor feels it is not an accurate device. He wants me to use the one that goes around the bicep area, but I have trouble using that one. I always get “error” readings. Is the wrist monitor really known to be inaccurate?
A: It can be harder to get an accurate reading with a wrist monitor. However, a well made wrist monitor that is used properly can give accurate results. Since you have difficulty using an arm monitor, a wrist monitor makes sense. I suggest you take your wrist monitor with you on your next doctor visit and compare readings. You may need to get a different model or change the way you are using it.
(16 votes, average: 4.19 out of 5)
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I have heard that your blood pressure taken on your right arm should not me more than 10 points different than your blood pressure taken on your left arm immediately afterwards. I find that mine can differ at times as much as 20 to 25 points. Does this indicate some type of problem?
I can take my blood pressure on the same arm three times in a row and sometimes there is a difference of 20 to 25 points. Mostly I think it is because I am at rest and my heart has a chance to slow down from the first reading to the last.
my bood pressure at night time is 155/75 ,but in day time is 130/65 and if i take it for secod time it will be 125/64 . why is that?
How can one be sure the doctor’s mpnitor is giving a correct reading?
I first got a wrist reader but having HB most of my life, it starting giving me extreme low and high readings – 134 to 198 -. My wife ran across an upper arm model and got it for me as a surprise. It is very consistant and hovers around a figure my dr. can accept. Throwing out the wrist model.
I use a wrist monitor, and the important thing is to hold your arm so that the monitor is level with your heart, as an armband type would be, your fingers resting near your opposite shoulder and your hand supporting your left elbow. Mine cost about $60 at a drug store, and it is battery operated. Very accurate.
The best wrist monitors are able to detect whether or not the monitor is at the level of the heart. It is my understanding that this increases accuracy. Omron available on Costco’s Website does this. I have checked it against my doctor’s reading and they are very close.
What is a GOOD wrist blood pressure moniter?
If the arm monitor is the type that you have to manually inflate, it could give you an error reading if you don’t pump it high enough. Or if the cuff isn’t the right size.
I have consistently seen wrist readings at 15 to 20 points lower than the bicep cuff. Both monitors are from the same manufacturer and I use them exactly as shown in the instructions. The bicep cuff is most in line with my doc’s.
I would say I am shocked at the answer your doctor gave you, but then again your doctor probably doesn’t even know. According to AHA standards, blood pressure is measured at the Brachial artery with an appropriately sized cuff while supporting the arm at heart level. The patient should be seated quietly for approx 5 mins prior to testing. Any other procedure and you are comparing apples to oranges. As far as I know there are no legitimate blood pressure studies using the radial artery in the wrist and even if there were, the standards for treatment are BASED UPON brachial artery blood pressure reading as I previously described.
Eric Summiel, RN