What your feet could be telling you about the health of your arteries

The Cleveland Clinic recommends asking your primary physician to check the pulses in your feet if you show any symptoms of PAD, have a family history of PAD or heart disease, or have a history of smoking. This is a simple test that can be done during a routine examination.

A physician can also do an ankle brachial index, which utilizes blood pressure cuffs and an ultrasound wave to detect a pulse in the region.

While detecting PAD can indeed tell you a lot about your greater cardiovascular risk, the Cleveland Clinic states that healthy individuals who do not smoke and do not have a family history of heart disease generally do not need to be screened, as the test can sometimes give a false positive. However, if you are concerned, talk to a health professional that you trust about your PAD risk, and whether it would be beneficial to check the pulses in your feet.

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