This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Large amplitude pulse

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

In this wave form the upstroke is abrupt and steeper than normal. The peak of the wave form is reached earlier than normal and there is a rapid downstroke. The amplitude of the wave form is abnormally wide.

  • with the patient reclining, the examiner raises the patient's arm vertically upwards. The examiner grasps the muscular part of the patient's forearm. A waterhammer pulse is felt as a tapping impulse which is transmitted through the bulk of the muscles

  • a waterhammer was a Victorian toy in which a tube was half filled with fluid, the remainder being a vacuum. The child would invert and reinvert the tube; each time the impact of the fluid at each end would sound like a hammer blow

Reference:

  • Kirby B (1993). Clinical examination of the heart. Medicine International, 21(8), 294-99.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.