High Blood Pressure and Hypertension Forum - Higher blood pressure reading

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What exactly is blood pressure in the first place? And how can you know if your blood pressure is either high OR low?...

Q: Higher blood pressure reading - R side

asked by: DoctorQuestion on April 1st, 2009

I've noticed that I have a significantly higher blood pressure when taken in my right arm -- 145/99 -- versus 117/75 when taken in my left arm. My right wrist had been very badly broken several years ago in a horseback riding incident. I had surgery on the wrist and it has healed very nicely, although it's a little bit bigger in diameter than my left wrist. I remember the ortho surgeon commenting about my having a good blood supply when taking the pins out of the wrist. Could that be causing the higher blood pressure reading? I'm 53 years old, very active, not overweight, no other health issues.

Replies(1)

Dr. Goce Aleksovski , MD

replied on April 2nd, 2009

High Blood Pressure and Hypertension Answer A6216

No data was given when the higher blood pressure in one arm was first detected.
The wrist operation could not have influenced the blood pressure.
There is a possibility that your normal blood pressure is 145/99 and the measured 117/95 is actually lowered blood pressure because of bad blood flow in the affected arm. You might want to consult with your family doctor about this. He might want to have a physical exam to check the blood pressure on both arms, and perhaps to send you for Doppler ultrasound which would detect any disturbances in the blood flow of the affected arm.

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