Why do doctors use stethoscopes to listen to different locations on our body, both front and back? What’s the listening for? It always perplexes me.
In: Biology
Breathing mostly. They can tell a lot about what’s wrong with you based on how your breathing sounds. Different sounds imply different issues with your respiratory system
Front is generally listening to your heart, back is generally your lungs. They usually listen to 4 spots on your back which correspond to the upper and lower lobes of your left and right lung. If they hear anything abnormal when you’re breathing deep, like crackling or wheezing, they can narrow down where it’s happening
They can hear if your lungs are moving air smoothly by the whooshing sound when you breathe. If one part of your lungs sounds different, that might mean something like pneumonia is causing it not to inflate fully. They listen to the front and back because lungs are surprisingly big, so you have to check a few different places to hear it all.
They can also hear how well your heart is beating and make sure the valves are opening and closing how they’re supposed to. If they’re really good, they can listen to see if the arteries (like in the neck) are moving blood smoothly or if there might be a blockage.
Sometimes, they’ll also listen to your intestines to make sure things are…moving along appropriately.
To be fair, a google search would have answered your question.
But, they are listening to 3 things:
-Heart
-Lungs
-Stomach / GI
Heart: How many sounds there are, what order they come in, and how they sound (Look up S1, S2, etc. heart sounds)
Lungs: Something called “Adventitious” lung sounds, just a medical way of saying any abnormal breathing sounds. Could hint at fluid-filled lungs (bad), pneumonia, CHF, infection, etc.
Stomach: I do not want to misinform you because I am not exactly sure what is being listened for when checking that due to my credentials. Google this one or maybe someone else has more info.
Creds: Paramedic who regularly checks heart + lung sounds.
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