A stress test, sometimes called a treadmill test or exercise test, helps your doctor find out how well your heart handles its workload. As your body works harder during the test, it requires more fuel and your heart has to pump more blood. The test can show if there’s a lack of blood supply through the arteries that go to the heart.
What is an Exercise Stress Test?
The exercise stress test – also called a stress test, exercise electrocardiogram, treadmill test, graded exercise test, or stress ECG – is used to provide information about how the heart responds to exertion. It involves walking on a treadmill at increasing levels of difficulty, while your electrocardiogram, heart rate, and blood pressure are monitored.
Your Doctor Uses the Stress Test to
- Determine if there is adequate blood flow to your heart during increasing levels of activity
- Evaluate the effectiveness of your heart medications to control angina and ischemia
- Determine the likelihood of having coronary heart disease and the need for further evaluation
- Check the effectiveness of procedures done to improve blood flow within the heart vessels in people with coronary heart disease
- Identify abnormal heart rhythms
- Help you develop a safe exercise program
What Happens During the Stress Test?
- You’re hooked up to equipment to monitor your heart.
- You walk slowly in place on the treadmill.
- It tilts so you feel like you’re going up a small hill.
- It changes speeds to make you walk faster after certain time interval.
- You can stop the test at any time if you need to.
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