Around one in four people in the UK die from cardiovascular disease. This refers to any disease or condition that affects the heart or circulatory system.
One such condition is heart failure, which occurs when the organ is unable to pump blood around the body properly. This is usually because it has become too weak or stiff to do so.
It is a serious long-term condition that often gets progressively worse over time. Therefore, spotting any of the warning signs is vital.
And the sooner you notice these, the sooner you can seek the appropriate medical treatment as well as make any necessary lifestyle changes. This might include tweaking your diet, exercising more and going on medications among other things.
Some of the symptoms are more obvious. Issues such as heart palpitations and shortness of breath can indicate heart failure.
However, others are less so and might seem unexpected.
One expert took to social media to explain such a symptom.
Speaking to his almost two million followers on TikTok, ER doctor Adam Goodcoff shared a test you can do with your hands to reveal this sign.
He said: “Could you make the diagnosis with your hands?”
This technique involved pressing down on the ankles or bottom of the legs with your hands.
“On physical exam you see these legs here,” Dr Goodcoff said. “When you push in, they pit for over two seconds.”
You then remove the hands and if the indentation in the ankles remains for longer than two seconds it could be a sign of heart failure.
This means you have pitting oedema. Oedema is a swelling caused by fluid build-up in parts of the body, often the ankles.
Pitting oedema means that when pressure is applied to the swollen area, a “pit”, or indentation, will remain.
Oedema is a common phenomenon among heart failure patients because if the heart cannot pump blood properly around the body you get a build-up of pressure inside the blood vessels.
This then causes fluid to leak into the surrounding tissues.
The NHS says: “Swollen ankles and legs – this is caused by a build-up of fluid (oedema); it may be better in the morning and get worse later in the day.”
Dr Goodcoff also warned of two other signs of heart failure.
“And when the patient lays back you notice pulsing in their neck and they tell you they’re short of breath,” he said.
The pulsing in the neck is known as jugular vein pulsation or jugular vein distension, and shortness of breath is known medically as orthopnoea.
According to the NHS, other signs of heart failure include:
- Fatigue – you may feel tired most of the time and find exercise exhausting
- Feeling lightheaded and fainting.
If you experience any symptoms you should speak to your GP.
