
Can BP Vary With Different Arm Positions?

the recommendations are for heart level
Detailed Answer:
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic
There are certain world wide recommendations when measuring blood pressure. It can be affected by different factors including the position of the arm.
The blood pressure should be measured with the arm at heart level. When the arm is lower than heart level then the blood pressure is falsely high, when it is taken higher than heart level the blood pressure is falsely lower than the actual reading.
This is related to something called hydrostatic pressure, when the arm is too low, the hydrostatic pressure between the column of blood in the heart and the point of measurement is added to the reading.
This is the reason your blood pressure is higher when your arm is held lower. This reading is not accurate. 2 mmHg of blood pressure is approximately added for every inch below the heart ( and 2 mmHg substracted for every inch above)
The accurate reading is the one taken at heart level.
Other factors are: (1) crossing of feet (can raise systolic by 2 to 8 mmHg)
(2)room temperature
(3)alcohol or nicotine
(4)recent exercise
(5)bladder distension
(6)background noise
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

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