Is femoral pulse better assessed with fingers or steth?

Hi all,

What do you think? I prefer fingers, but also what position is femoral best assessed? Underwear off all the way, lowered, or still on? (I want to try assessing it on my gf when she comes over this coming Sunday, we're both into med fetish as part of a play physical and have been dating (first and only for each of us) since 2005. She just turned 27 on november 21 and I turned 25 not even 2 weeks ago. I am proposing next month. Looking forward to responses!

Also don't own a steth. What position should I be in when I am the examiner?

My suggestion is supine (flat on her back) with feet allowed to rotate outward. Clothing gets in the way.

Ascultation of the femoral artery is a different exam, listening for turbulent blood flow.

Good luck with your proposal.

Best, in my opinion is without obstruction of any type and using fingers. So, lowered should be sufficient. and.... MAZEL TOV!

An unobstructed femoral artery should be silent on auscultation. But if you firmly compress the artery a little above the stethoscope you can hear the whoosh-whoosh sound that you also hear when taking blood pressure.

Supine, with underwear taken off, and with fingers. Good luck with everything!

As everyone has mention supine or lying on her back is best for palpating the femoral artery. I would also add that removal of the underwear might be the best approach. Have her lying on the couch or bed and you standing at the side is best.

The site for optimally palpating the femoral pulse is in the inner thigh, at the mid-inguinal point, halfway between the pubic symphysis and anterior superior iliac spine. Use the tips of your 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers, and you may need to press firmly to feel the pulse.

If you follow the link you can see roughly where you need to feel for the pulse

http://nursing-skills.blogspot.com/2013/12/assessing-radial-pulse.html#.VIjP9clu594

Hope this helps

I have only had one doctor check my femoral pulses, and he did it with palpation only. I would say he did it with his first three fingers. He checked the femoral on the right and then went to palpate the arteries behind my knee and on the top of my foot and ankle and then worked from the ankle up to the femoral on the left. He did this immediately after the abdominal exam with me lying supine wearing only my tighty whities. He pushed his fingers just barely inside the leg openings to palpate the femoral arteries, coming very close to my penis but without touching it. This increased my anxiety quite a lot and actually gave me goosebumps. After checking all the pulses, he then directed me to stand next to the exam table and drop my shorts. Since I knew intuitively that this part of the exam was coming, the pulse exam provided a impactful and tension-heightening interlude to allow me time to contemplate the genital and hernia exam. The fact that he left my briefs up and slid his fingers inside the leg opening was much more effective in building the overall anxiety than would have been felt if he had pulled down my briefs and had a look at my oenis at that point. I wish I would have another doctor check those pulses and adding auscultation would make it even better.

The best way is to have the patient supine with the groin exposed. Use your fingers. Don't use a stethoscope. RN1993 explains it well.

Some of the doctors I've been to assess my femoral pulses, some don't. They were generally accessed by moving the top part of my briefs down, rather than via the leg openings.

My doctor uses his fingers to address my femoral pulse. It has been a very long time since he has done so.

Recently during a hospital stay my femoral pulse has been taken with me lying on my back . The gown has been lifted to just above my pubic area and it's been felt that way . I didn't have any underwear on to remove as I was in ICU.

I find it easier by palpation

It would not be routine for a healthcare provider to LISTEN for a pulse with a stethoscope. Pulses are palpated. They may listen with a Doppler if having trouble feeling a pulse. What a physician is listening for when he listens to your heart is actually the sounds of the valves and if there is a murmur, indicating regurgitation of blood. The only reason that a practitioner will sometimes listen to pulse points (usually carotids but possibly femoral pulses if you've had a procedure that involved the femoral artery such as a heart cath) is to assess for a bruit, a swishing sound that can indicate an aneurysm or other problems.

Yesterday my GP used fingers, all clothes on...inside thigh.

Palpation is better, but I really wish I could feel a steth near my groin.

The bottom line is that pulses are assessed via palpation. In the event that the pulse is too weak to feel, a doppler unit is used. The stethoscope is used to listen for turbulent blood flow, not a pulse. Even when checking a blood pressure, the cuff creates turbulence which is what is heard.

Isn't the demo of pedal rather far down the foot. I suppose you could suck a toe or five!! While you're there.

Yep fingers for pulses. I love to feel them in my skin. Very sexy. I would for fun place the steth there too.

Laying on the back. If genitals are not to be examined, just expose the groin area. Then use fingers to feel the femoral.

It think it really depends on the reasons why you need to have your femoral pulse checked. We used a combination of the fingers or a Doppler to check the flow of blood. Palpation of the pulses forms an important part of the assessment of the arterial blood supply of the lower limb. In clinical practice, this assessment may give clues about a compromised circulation.

We generally check with a Doppler following AAA ( Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm ) repair as there is a possibility of clot formation and blockage following surgery. Other conditions include intermittent claudication, a condition of the leg caused by atheroma (blockage) of the arteries. In this condition pain in the lower limb(s) develops during walking and is relieved by rest.

But whatever the reason for taking the pulse the rate, rhythm, and strength or amplitude of the pulse are noted and acessed. The average rate in an adult is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. The rhythm is checked for possible irregularities, which may be an indication of the general condition of the heart and the circulatory system.

The amplitude of a pulse can range from totally impalpable to bounding and full; however, such terms are vague and subject to misinterpretation. To provide a more standardized description of pulse amplitude we use a scale that provides a more objective evaluation and reporting of the force of a pulse.

On our scale zero would mean that the pulse cannot be felt; +1 would indicate a thready, weak pulse that is difficult to palpate, fades in and out, and is easily obliterated with slight pressure; +2 would be a pulse that requires light palpation but once located would be stronger than a +1; +3 would be considered normal; and a +4 pulse would be one that is strong, bounding, easily palpated, and perhaps hyperactive, and could indicate a pathological condition such as aortic regurgitation.