High or low blood pressure may be the symptom of many diseases and pathologies. Control and a regular blood pressure measurement help to timely start a drug treatment and reducing the risk for health.
Measurement of the blood pressure at home is an important element of control and prognosis of any cardiovascular disorder. The commercial and noncommercial organizations in the field of heart health care recommend everyone, who has high or low blood pressure, to buy special tool for its measurement, for example – the blood pressure cuff (sphygmomanometer).
The first sphygmomanometer was invented in the end of the 19th century and it has been updated many times since then. Most modern blood pressure cuffs consist of cuff, air injection device and a device that registers the air pulsation in the cuff. This blood pressure cuff review will help to understand the device types and choose the one that is most suitable for you.
Types of blood pressure cuff
There are several types of blood pressure cuff on pharmaceutical market. Most of them can be divided into mechanical, semi-automatic and automatic types. Depending on your purposes and possibilities, you can buy either of the types of blood pressure cuff.
Mechanical blood pressure cuff is a classic and the longest-used device in medicine that ever existed. Such device is almost never affected by external factors, and that fact increases the precision of measurements. Mechanical sphygmomanometers are popular and used by medical workers mostly.
The downside of this device is its difficulty of use. In order to measure the blood pressure, you need some experience and skills how to do this. Besides, to use the mechanical blood pressure cuff, you must have good hearing and eyesight.
The mechanical blood pressure cuff does not distort the results when moving your arm or speaking, or in arrhythmia. Another advantage of this device is its reasonable price. You can buy this type of blood pressure cuff at a low price almost in any pharmacy of the world.
Semi-automatic blood pressure cuff also requires manual air injection. This type of device has a display, which shows the results of measurements. To measure the blood pressure, you need no special skills or tools.
This kind of device has no drawbacks; it is easy to use for any person. You can see on the display the systolic and diastolic blood pressure indices and pulse rate. Compact semi-automatic blood pressure cuff by some manufacturers have small displays, which is not a beneficial part for people with bad eyesight.
Semi-automatic blood pressure cuffs measure the BP very precisely, because the human factor is excluded. These devices can be easily used by people with eyesight or hearing problems all by themselves. The price of semi-automatic blood pressure cuff is higher than the price of mechanical cuffs, but lower than the price of automatic ones.
Automatic blood pressure cuff is the most convenient and quite precise device for home blood pressure measurements. Such device is to be wrapped around an upper arm or wrist. However, the most precise measurement is shown when attached to the upper arm. You just have to wrap the cuff around your upper arm area, press the button and watch the device measures your BP.
Despite the fact that automatic blood pressure cuff is more expensive than the others are, it is becoming very popular. The most advanced blood pressure cuffs provide audio signals, memory the results and are PC compatible. New technologies, used in these devices, allow determining new symptoms of arrhythmia and other diseases.
The downside of automatic blood pressure cuff is a big number of functions that makes the manual blood pressure cuff intuitive but require a large size. Some suppliers offer to buy the automatic blood pressure cuff kit and stethoscope. Stethoscope needs no batteries, providing functions that digital devices do not provide.
How do we use the blood pressure cuff?
For a precise result, you should sit down and relax. Make sure it is not too cold nor too hot in the room. Do not move and do not talk while measuring.
Put on the cuff on your left or right arm. The blood pressure on the right and left arms may differ; therefore, make sure you always measure on one arm. The most common position of blood pressure cuff is a little bit higher of your elbow. If the manual allows, you may use other cuff placement, for instance, on the wrist.
Do the measurements according to the type of your blood pressure cuff, if you have an automatic device, you need to press «Start» button. The measurements will start showing when the valve opens and the air comes out of the cuff. Record the result and compare it with your previous measurements or with special chart.
Where can I buy blood pressure cuff?
Before you buy blood pressure cuff, you need to choose the type of device you need. For most users, the perfect variant is the semi-automatic blood pressure cuff. If you do not want to spend much money, just buy a mechanical device.
You can buy blood pressure cuff in Walgreens, Walmart and many other large and small pharmacy networks. Devices, available under the brand names, for example, Omron are very popular today. Devices by less popular producers can be cheaper, but have similar parameters.
Amazon and other online stores offer to buy blood pressure cuff at cheapest prices. Online stores have a large selection of best blood pressure cuffs with free delivery and different promos and discounts.