eli5: why do you put your finger on your neck or wrist to check your pulse, instead of just putting your hand on your chest?

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eli5: why do you put your finger on your neck or wrist to check your pulse, instead of just putting your hand on your chest?

In: Biology

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Ive always thought it was because just because the heart is beating, doesnt mean blood is getting everywhere it needs to be

Anonymous 0 Comments

Put your hand on your chest. Can you feel your pulse? Now put it on your neck. How does that feel? What’s the difference? There’s an artery that runs just beneath the skin on your neck, however your heart is beneath lots of tissue, muscle, and bone.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Your chest rises and falls with respiration.
That is not true with the pulse points that you mentioned.

If you are very skinny you can use your chest but not most people.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because there’s a ton of muscle, bone and fat (potentially) over your chest and it’d be harder to detect the heartbeat.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Also, you can ballpark a blood pressure based off where you take a pulse. For instance, a pulse on the wrist means that your BP is at least 80, leg is 70, neck is 60.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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