helping your accelerometer in rate adaptive pacing

Belsheart

by IAN MC - 2017-03-01 14:51:17

I have just seen that you asked this in reply to an earlier post of mine on angina ( thanks for the info you sent on tests for micro-vascular disease by the way )

In your other message you asked " How hard should you tap on the PM to raise your heart-rate ? "

It is not easy to answer . I know that you are chronotropically incompetent and that your PM has an accelerometer sensor to detect when you are exercising before raising your heart-rate.

Your sensor will respond to vibration but how much vibration depends on the sensitivity settings. As an example my Medtronic PM has 3 such settings :-

Low -  Responds to most body activity including minimal vibration i.e light tapping would be sufficient

Medium /Low - Limited response to minimal vibration , i.e. slightly stronger tapping would be needed

Medium / High  - Needs high activity / vibration before it responds . You would need a firmer tap on the PM to raise your heart-rate

When you are trying to cycle up a steep hill for example and your heart-rate isn't increasing as it should , it MAY help to tap on your PM  which in turn creates vibration  but " How hard a tap " will depend on your settings. I find that I need a firm tap , but not aggressive to the point of causing myself discomfort.

Why not experiment , sit in an armchair and tap on your PM with various levels of intensity and measure your heart-rate to see what happens.   But having said all that , tapping the PM site really is a last resort and if you have correct Rate Response settings you should rarely have to do it.

Best of luck

Ian

walking

by Tracey_E - 2017-03-01 17:51:01

If you are walking, it should sense the movement and raise your rate adequately. Maybe talk to yhour doctor about sensitivity settings? The only time it's usually an issue is things like biking where there is no vibration. Tapping is really not a long term solution.