Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Study of Pulse

The Pulse
[Mengenali Denyut Nadi ]

The pulse of a healthy adult male at middle life beasts from 70 – 75 times per minutes, but this is not an invariable rule for some persons enjoy good health with a pulse at 50, and even lower, while others are as well with a pulse at 90. Again it varies at different period of life, and according to sex, position of body, etc., thus:-
• It embryo it average per minute is 150
• At birth, 140 – 130 / m
• During the first year – 130 – 115 / m
• During the second year – 150- 100 /m
• During the third year – 100 – 90 /m
• About the 7 year – 90 -85 / m
• About the 14th year – 85 – 80 / m
• In the middle period of life – 75 – 70 / m
• In old age – 65 – 50 / m

The pulse of women is more frequent by 10 or 15 beats per minutes than those of man. The pulse is more frequent by 10 or 11 beats in the standing than in the sitting posture. Muscular exertion, as dancing, for example will raise the pulse from 75 – 120, and even higher. And eating or drinking will like wise increase the heart action, on the contrary, during sleep the pulse is less frequent.

Pulse in Disease

Acceleration of the pulse is a common symptom of all febrile disorders; it augments with their increase and subsided with their decline.
The pulse of an adult rarely exceed 150 per minutes, even in acute inflammatory affection, when it run above 170 per minutes, it portends a fatal issue.
A quick, hard pulse is very characteristic of Diptheria and Scalartina.
A quick, full, bounding pulse indicate inflammation, or fever of an acute inflammatory character.
A sluggish, full pulse evinces a want of nervous energy.
Unusual slowness of pulse is chiefly met with in chronic softening and in tuberculosis affection of the brain. It is also a common symptom a disease attended with, resulting from concussion, or compression of the brain.
A changeable pulse indicates nervous derangement, and sometime organic disease of heart.

A fine, scarcely perceptible pulses denotes great exhaustion and approaching death.
An intermittent pulse is not inconsistent with health, never the less, it is more commonly and indication of disease of the heart.