{"id":21532,"date":"2022-12-28T00:02:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T00:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aktiia.com\/uk\/?p=21532"},"modified":"2025-08-03T08:15:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T08:15:49","slug":"beyond-the-blood-pressure-cuff-the-history-future-of-blood-pressure-measurement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hilo.wp-dev-stage.de\/uk?p=21532","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Cuff: The History & Future of Blood Pressure Monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Compared with smartphones, social media, televisions, and travel, the evolution of blood pressure measurement have moved at a snail\u2019s pace over the past few decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could even argue it hasn\u2019t moved at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why do we still rely on the dated and rather cumbersome blood pressure cuff? And can we expect any progress soon for easier, more accurate measurements?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, you\u2019ll find a summary of the history of blood pressure theory and tools up until today, as well as a bold prediction of what the future holds for those with hypertension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(PS Feel free to scroll to the end if you want to cheat and see the prediction immediately!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The History of Blood Pressure: A Timeline From 200 AD to The 2020s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AD 200: The Blood Pressure Beginnings in Ancient Greece<\/h3>\n\n\n
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We begin our tour of the past with Galen, a Greek philosopher, and physician in the Roman Empire. He advanced on Hippocrates’ observation that arteries ceased to bleed at the point of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Galen put forward the theory of a circulatory system with arteries containing \u201cpneuma.\u201d What\u2019s that? We hear you ask. Pneuma was thought of as a life force pushed around the body by the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Early 1600s: A Blood Pressure Controversy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

English physician, William Harvey<\/a>, went against Galen by proclaiming that the heart does not give an endless supply of blood. Instead, a limited amount of blood can move around the body in one direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvey\u2019s breakthrough caused quite a stir. Reason being? Bloodletting – a now abandoned blood removal treatment hoped to filter out impurities and cure conditions – was a common medical practice at the time. Under Harvey\u2019s assumption, there was no longer an infinite amount of blood for a sick individual to recover, so bloodletting was now viewed as a risky therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n

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William Harvey (1578-1657), an English physician.<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1711: The First Documented Measurement of Blood Pressure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Reverend Stephen Hales is credited with the first known instance of blood pressure measurement<\/a>. It was far from ethical, in hindsight.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Reverend Stephen Hales<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The method? Hales placed a glass tube into the artery of a horse (as well as smaller animals). Seeing how the blood rose and fell within the tube, he established that this must be due to changes in blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Birth of The Blood Pressure Cuff in The 1800s<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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An Austrian physician, Dr. von Basch, invented the sphygmomanometer<\/a> (also known as the blood pressure monitor) in 1881.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although celebrated as the first non-invasive way to measure human blood pressure, it was also complex. The device included a rubber bulb filled with water to manipulate blood flow in the artery and a mercury column to record the reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1800s, the Riva-Rocci device was adapted by a doctor named Nikolai Korotkoff. After this adaptation, the device could fit around the arm and become the blood pressure cuff design we still see today.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dr. Korotkoff\u2019s Riva-Rocci’s first sphygmomanometer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

1905 marked the next stage of understanding. Korotkoff was able to determine the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure. This was done by recording five different sounds (the Korotkoff sounds<\/a>) in the arteries as the heart contracted and refilled with blood. A big breakthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And Then\u2026 Nothing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The blood pressure history timeline above shows a flurry of new knowledge and possibilities following the progress made in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s. But then everything seems to grind to a halt.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It\u2019s strange. Especially when we consider how essential facets of health, such as exercise, nutrition, and sleep, have developed rapidly over the past decade. Daily step counters, calorie-tracking apps, and sleep analytics are now available to most. Yet, more advanced blood pressure measures have not appeared on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until now\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Embracing Technology and Insights: The Modern-Day Invention For Measuring Blood Pressure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Do either you or a loved one have hypertension?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If so, you\u2019ll know the limitations of the standard blood pressure cuff method all too well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n