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
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.
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