Stress Testing
What Is a Stress Test, and Why Is It Important?
If you’ve experienced chest pain or palpitations or your primary care physician or cardiologist believes you are at significant risk of arterial blockage, you may be referred for a stress test. Stress testing is a very common, informative, and non-invasive diagnostic procedure to learn more about how your heart is functioning.
The mechanism by which stress testing works is in the name. By putting physical stress on the heart, we can measure how it reacts at rest and after strain is placed on it with exercise. We can also gauge the heart’s reaction after that stressful event. Typically stress tests will involve the patient walking on a treadmill or exercising on a stationary bike for some time to increase their heart rate.
By doing this, we can learn more about: