This 2-Second Thumb Test Could Indicate If You’re At Risk For A Heart Problem — Here’s How To Do It At Home

There are many small health checks that people can do at home-from controlling your humor to the nipples. However, someone who may be less familiar is a thumb test.
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This is a relatively simple maneuver, but has the potential to reveal clues about a possible heart problem.
So what exactly requires the “thumb test ve and what should people know about it? Below, cardiologists are washing it.
What is the thumb test?
“The thumb test is an easy test to see if they are at increasing risk for people’s aortic aneurysm”. Tracy Paeschke He told HuffPost. “The thumb test involves leaving your thumb in your straight palm. Your thumb It extends beyond the edge From your palm, this shows joint laxity or elasticity that may be associated with connective tissue diseases. “
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Conditional tissue diseases such as Marfan Syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome are associated with higher aneurysm, especially the risk of aorticism, because people with these conditions weaken their blood vessel walls.
The thumb, also known as the thumb-Palm test, does not indicate that someone currently has an aneurysm. On the contrary, it helps to detect joint hypermobility due to these disorders risk of increasing aneurysms.
“A study in 2021 He showed that people with a positive thumb sign have the possibility of having a high aortic aneurysm and have the possibility of expanding the large blood vessels carrying blood to all parts of the body from the heart of the chest. ”
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What are the limitations of the thumb test?
“Remember that this is not a diagnostic test,” he said Dr. Marc BonacaA cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist and the American Heart Association Pad Cooperation. “Most people with aortic aneurysm will be a negative thumb test. Those with a positive thumb test may be a connective tissue -related state associated with aneurysm, but this does not mean that it has aneurysm.”
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Indeed, the same 2021 study, which found a positive test, was more likely to have aortic aneurysm, “the majority of aneurysm patients did not show a positive thumb-palm sign”. Therefore, a negative result does not exclude having a aneurysm.
“The thumb test is not considered correct or reliable as a scanning tool for aortic aneurysm,” he said. Comb rambhatlaMiami Cardiac and Baptist Health is a cardiologist with Southern Florida Vascular Institute. “Many healthy people may have a ‘positive’ test without any mixed connective tissue disease or any vascular disease. And on the contrary, many of them can be a normal thumb test with aneurysm.
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He believes that the thumb test is an interesting sign of a bedside tissue disorders, but otherwise it may be misleading.
“A positive result is not specific and may cause unnecessary anxiety, while a negative result can really provide false assurance to someone with aneurysm, Ram said Rambhatla. “Excessive dependence on this may delay appropriate scanning or supervision by imaging in high -risk individuals. In short, it should never change the location of official medical assessment or guide -based aneurysm screening.”
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Dr. Glenn hirschHe stressed that a cardiologist and the Chief of the Department of Cardiology of National Jewish Health, other factors, foresee the existence of more aneurysm than the thumb test, such as cardiovascular problems or family aneurysm.
“There are other reasons for aortic aneurysms such as high blood pressure in the chest, and this test will be less useful in this case,” he said.
What should you do if you have a positive thumb test?
Illustration: HuffPost
“If you have a positive thumb test, you should talk about whether you need to propose a underlying connective disease and whether you need to do additional tests, Bon Bonaca said Bonaca added that your doctor can do a more complete physical examination and order certain scans. “Aneurysm are diagnosed and manuals recommend that people at risk be tested for certain reasons.”
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He noted that imaging is the gold standard to diagnose aneurysms and that there are medical guidelines that propose a test based on the evaluation of certain risk factors.
“Someone with a positive thumb test is discussed with a doctor who can propose official evaluation and display of the aorta, if someone with a positive thumb test has features that have a history of a family aneurysm or dissection,” Rambhatla said. “Otherwise, an isolated finding in a healthy person usually does not require urgent concern, but it can be brought to the agenda for a routine medical visit for context.”
Hirsch also suggested that people discuss risk factors with their doctors to determine when scanning and monitoring is appropriate.
“Some risk factors for aortic aneurysms include 65 years of age, male, smokers, high blood pressure, connective tissue disorders.– Or the story of the presence of family aortic aneurysm and bicuspid aortic covers. ”
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Furthermore, beyond the thumb test, he drew attention to other potential signs of a underlying connective tissue disorder-to be “double-added ,, to have joint dislocations, and to lose his teeth.
“Ultimately, awareness of the thumb test can lead to useful conversations, Ram said Rambhatla. “However, medical decision -making should always be directed by evidence -based screening and imaging.”
This article emerged at the beginning HuffPost.
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