Cardiovascular and Pulmonary SystemsDifficulty 3/5
During moderate-intensity exercise a patient's systolic blood pressure falls from 128 to 112 mmHg while workload increases. What should the therapist do?
- AIncrease the workload to determine whether the pressure recovers
- BSwitch to upper-extremity exercise to reduce the cardiac demand
- CContinue the activity because the patient denies any symptoms
- DStop the activity, monitor the patient and report the response
Show answer and rationale
Correct: D. A fall in systolic pressure of 10 mmHg or more with increasing workload is a recognised criterion for terminating exercise, whether or not the patient reports symptoms. It may indicate inadequate cardiac output.
- C — Absence of symptoms does not override an objective termination criterion.
- A — Increasing demand in the face of a failing pressure response is unsafe.
- B — Changing modality maintains cardiac demand rather than removing it.