In
medicine, a
pulse represents the tactile
arterial palpation of the
heartbeat by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an
artery to be compressed against a
bone, such as at the
neck (
carotid artery), on the inside of the
elbow (
brachial artery), at the
wrist (
radial artery), at the groin (
femoral artery), behind the
knee (
popliteal artery), near the
ankle joint (
posterior tibial artery), and on foot (
dorsalis pedis artery). Pulse (or the count of arterial pulse per minute) is equivalent to measuring the heart rate. The heart rate can also be measured by listening to the heart beat directly (
auscultation), traditionally using a
stethoscope and counting it for a minute. The radial pulse is commonly measured using three fingers. This has a reason; the finger closest to the heart is used to occlude the pulse pressure, the Middle finger is used get a crude estimate of the blood pressure, and the finger most distal to the heart ( usually the ring finger) is used to nullify the effect of the ulnar pulse as the two arteries are connected via the
palmar arches. The study of the pulse is known as sphygmology.