The doctor measures your blood pressure using an instrument called a sphygmomanometer. A cuff is placed around your upper arm and inflated. The inflated cuff compresses a large artery in the arm, temporarily stopping the flow of blood. The person measuring your blood pressure will listen with a stethoscope while slowly releasing air from the cuff. He or she will listen for the sound of blood pulsing in the artery, which can only be heard for a short amount of time.
Some people get nervous when they visit the doctor, which causes their blood pressure to rise.
If this happens to you, your health care provider may suggest ambulatory blood pressure monitoring or self-monitoring, so he or she can get a better idea of your normal daily blood pressure. Sometimes a patient's blood pressure behaves erratically, becoming high at a particular time of day or under certain circumstances. During ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, a patient wears a small monitor on a belt around the waist or over the shoulder. This monitor records blood pressure readings every 15 to 30 minutes while the patient goes about his or her regular activities. After 24 hours, the monitor is disconnected, the readings are transferred into a computer and the pattern of blood pressure is analyzed.