What is ECG?

ECG is an acronym for Electrocardiography which measures the electrical activity of the heart over time. While your heart is a muscular organ that beats in rhythm to pump blood through the body, an ECG takes a record of that rhythm.

Types of ECG

There are mainly three types of ECG, resting ECG, ambulatory ECG and cardiac stress test.

A resting ECG requires the patient to lie down and stay still as electrical impulses generated by other muscles may interfere with those generated by the heart. This type of ECG usually takes 5 to 10 minutes.

An ambulatory ECG allows the patient to move about freely and normally while a portable recording device is worn on the patient for at least 24 hours.

Finally, the cardiac stress test is used to analyse a patient’s heart function during exercise. The patient is required to ride an exercise bike or walk on a treadmill as the activity of the heart is recorded. This type of ECG takes about 15 to 30 minutes.

Below is a video that gives you a good picture of what ECG is about and how it works.