Treadmill Stress Tests

Treadmill stress tests are a valuable way to check your overall health condition and fitness level. They provide overall information of your health status, which can be used to diagnose any problems or prevent them before they start.

Depending on your physical health and age (as well as gender), your physician might recommend that you get an exercise stress test, to determine if you have any problems with your heart or if you have other cardiovascular difficulties.

An exercise stress test is performed by having you run or walk on a treadmill, while undergoing an EKG at the same time. EKG stands for Elektrokardiogramm, which records the activity of the heart. This is to determine whether you show any cardiac or cardiovascular symptoms of distress, while performing physical activity. A lot of the time, if someone has a coronary artery blockage, he or she may have no symptoms while at rest.

In addition, the EKG itself may not show any abnormalities when someone is at rest. However, under physical duress (as happens when one is running on a treadmill), symptoms of cardiac or cardiovascular abnormalities will show up, so that they can then be diagnosed and treated.

A treadmill stress test measures the function of the heart and cardiovascular system, by performing an EKG while the patient is walking or running on the treadmill. This shows symptoms of coronary artery blockage or other difficulties, because when the heart is under stress, it does not perform optimally if it is not healthy. For example: if there are coronary artery blockages, they will show up.

When someone has healthy coronary arteries, these arteries dilate during exercise to increase blood flow. By contrast, someone with blockages will have reduced or even no dilation in response to exercise. This means that the heart muscle gets less blood if the coronary arteries are not healthy. If the heart does not get enough blood, it "starves" during exercise.

This in turn may produce symptoms, like shortness of breath, out of proportion to the exercise, or chest discomfort. In addition, the EKG itself may show abnormalities characteristic of this starvation.

A regular treadmill stress test is considered very safe, and risk is minimal. This is because there are trained staff right there to help you, if you should have difficulty. In addition, the test itself is no more stressful than any other physical activity you might do, and sometimes less stressful. For example: shoveling snow is one way many people have heart attacks, because the cold air and lack of physical conditioning place the heart under great stress.

A treadmill stress test is carefully performed to bring you just enough stress, so that any symptoms can show up, but again, staff will make careful note of any symptoms and will stop the test if it appears you are in any danger.

By contrast, when you are performing physically stressful activities on your own, you do not have this kind of supervision; therefore, that type of activity is much more dangerous than a treadmill stress test is.

The best way to do an exercise stress test is to have one, of course, prescribed by your doctor. If you feel you are having symptoms when you are undergoing stressful physical activity, talk to your doctor; he or she will likely schedule you for a treadmill stress test.

Your doctor may also ask you to undergo a treadmill stress test if you are at risk for coronary artery disease, if you have symptoms of high blood pressure, or if you have unexplained fatigue or shortness of breath and need to have your exercise tolerance determined. You may also have one scheduled by your doctor, if your doctor wants to check you for an irregular heartbeat when you are exercising.