Rate on Exertion Pulse Assessment

Assessing cardiac integrity

The integrity of the Heart is one of the most critical indicators of health (physical, emotional, and spiritual), so having many tools to assess it is valuable. While in my lineages of Chinese medicine we have a number of methods, below is one simple way to evaluate the Heart’s ability to handle and adapt to the demands placed upon it daily. This is but one part of assessing a greater whole, but a very valuable one nonetheless. It is simple and profound in the information in yields. Here is a very basic sketch, but please listen to the audio below for more detail on it, as well as watching the embedded video for a demonstration on how to perform it…

The Heart and Circulatory system should respond to the energetic demands of movement within certain parameters.

•An increase of 8-12 beats/min is considered normal.

•Changes outside this range are considered pathological.

•To assess, instruct the patient to stand and swing the arm vigorously in a circle approximately ten times. 

•Using the other arm, immediately check the rate for ten seconds, and multiply the number by six.

•Compare to rate taken at the end of the pulse examination.

•Rate increases by 8-12 beats/min - Normal

•Rate increases by > 12 beats/min - Heart blood deficiency

•Between 13-18 bpm:  Mild

•Between 19-28 bpm:  Moderate

•Between 29-35:  Severe

•Between 35-45:  Very Severe

•Above 45:  Extremely Severe

•Rate stays the same or rises by < 8 beats/min - Heart Qi deficiency

•Rate decreases – severe Heart Yang deficiency

Take a listen to a short audio recording about the importance of this diagnostic test and check out the video below to see how to perform it.