Measuring Blood Pressure through your underwear

Here’s an interesting story…..measuring blood pressure with sensors in your underwear.

On a clinical level, blood pressure is not hard to measure but the equipment necessary to measure it can be bulky and awkward to carry around. Having a condition that requires regular blood pressure readings throughout the day can be very inconvenient if you had to carry around with you a cuff, a pump, and a stethoscope all day long.

Scientists recognize this and have developed underwear with sensors sewn into the waistband. These sensors measure what is known as the pulse wave velocity, which is the rate at which a pulse pressure wave passes through the circulatory system. It has been determined that these pulse pressure waves correlate very well with blood pressure measurements.

This will be a huge benefit to those that have conditions that require regular blood pressure measurements. I’m sure some are probably relieved to hear that this system also works on the premise of the pulse wave velocity measurement rather then pumping air into the waistband and squeezing a rather delicate area of the body.

Source: Invention via Ubergizmo

Tagged as: blood pressure, gadgets, underwear