Also known as an exercise test, a stress test is used to find if there are any irregularities in the functions of the heart. It is carried out by monitoring a person’s heart performance while he moves or runs on a treadmill. As a result, occasionally this is also referred to as a treadmill test.

The person can be asked move in different speeds by the physicians. It can even be tilted to make movement harder for the patients, who can of course stop the test any time he wants to. Using an echocardiography (ECG), the physician can evaluate the stress test and conclude whether the person’s heart has to work harder than expected to pump throughout the body.

The stress test has another useful function – it can diagnose low blood pressure. The test compares the flow of blood from the arteries to the heart during exercise with that during rest. As a result, imbalances in the blood flow can be revealed when blood flows to the left vertical of the heart, which is the part of the heart that does the most amount of work during physical exertion. In this manner, imbalances in the blood flow will indicate low blood pressure using the help of ECG.