Here is a cardiac, or heart, term.
The heart is a muscle designed to pump blood, as you know. Actually, it is two pumps in one. Each pump has an atrium, or pre-load pump, and a ventricle, the main pump. One pump is on the right (R) side, the other on the left (L). They share a central wall. The right side pumps blood to the lungs, the left to the body and all its organs.
Like any muscle, it will enlarge if it is exercised. Now, voluntary muscles get exercised by lifting weights or running or doing an activity over and over. The heart muscle enlarges by pumping harder. It pumps harder when it has to pump against an elevated blood pressure.
So, in one has hypertension (elevated blood pressure), the heart muscle has to work harder and gets larger than it should/needs to be. We call that
Left Ventricular Hypertrophy or LVH
It can be determined by doing an EKG, part of the usual evaluation of how your heart is working.
So, get your blood pressure checked on a regular basis, and an EKG on occasion.
For Your health,
Blessings,
Dr Jon
MAR – Metabolic Assessment Regimen
