# Does blood pulse around the body at the same time?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-blood-pulse-around-the-body-at-the-same-time/493064>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 14, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-blood-pulse-around-the-body-at-the-same-time/493064 "2009-04-14T14:39:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-blood-pulse-around-the-body-at-the-same-time/493064/1 "2009-04-14T14:39:33Z")

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Do blood vessels around the body pulsate at the same time, or is there a noticible delay as the pressure wave propogates from the heart to the rest of the body? (I’m having trouble testing it myself due to a weak wrist pulse).

I’ve had an issue for a while where my hands and feet tend to throb with my pulse. The throbbing (pulsating) in the various limbs happen at the same time, but I just noticed now that it’s not at the same time as the pulses taken at my neck. The neck pulse and extremity throbbing seem to occur at roughly the same pace, but not at the same moment. Is it simply because they’re a different distance from my heart and the pressure wave has to travel through the body’s blood vessels? If so, why would the hand and feet pulsating/throbbing occur simultaneously?

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**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-blood-pulse-around-the-body-at-the-same-time/493064/2 "2009-04-14T22:56:44Z")

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I tried googling but couldn’t come up with much, but Wikipedia’s article on [pulse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse) states that the pressure wave in arteries is much faster than the flow of the actual blood, and the pressure wave moves very quickly.

My WAG is since your arms and legs are maybe 1 to 1.5m from your heart, and pulse pressure travels at 3 to 35m/s (depending on which blood vessel it’s in), the pressure wave probably gets to your arms and legs at almost the same time.

> [@Wikipedia](#):
>
> Pressure waves move along the artery walls, which are pliable; these waves are not caused by the forward movement of the blood itself, however. When the heart contracts, blood is ejected into the aorta and the aorta stretches. At this point, the wave of distention (pulse wave) is pronounced but relatively slow-moving (3–6 m/s). As it travels towards the peripheral blood vessels, it gradually diminishes and becomes faster. In the large arterial branches, its velocity is 7–10 m/s; in the small arteries, it is 15–35 m/s. The pressure pulse is transmitted fifteen or more times more rapidly than the blood flow.

Edited to add: I just measured, and my feet are only about half a meter further away from my heart than my wrist is, so their pulses probably arrive at almost the same time.