Ambulatory Blood Pressure

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring refers to the ability to record blood pressure measurements at home at specific intervals during the day or night.
 
It’s really a very simple explanation for a procedure that provides your doctor with more detailed information about changes in your blood pressure.
 
When a patient is being examined in a doctor’s office, usually blood pressure is taken.  A cuff is wrapped around an arm and inflated.  As the cuff deflates, two measurements appear indicating the beating heart rate and the resting heart rate.
 
Science now tells us that this measurement is not always accurate.  It’s very common for a patient to experience anxiety during a visit to the doctor, and this is often reflected in the information from the standard blood pressure test. The measurement may indicate high blood pressure, low pressure or fluctuating pressure.
 
For this reason, your doctor may recommend Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring for you.  A TLC technician places a blood pressure cuff on your arm, which you’ll wear for a time period specified by your doctor.  The cuff will be “pre-programmed” to take readings at certain intervals during the day and night. This is a more accurate method of gathering your health stats. When the test is over, the cuff will be removed by TLC's technician. The stored information will be downloaded and forwarded to your doctor for review.