Definition of Treadmill, exercise

Heart Disease (Coronary Artery Disease) Slideshow

Treadmill, exercise: Exercise on a treadmill, a machine with a moving strip on which one walks without moving forward. A treadmill was originally a wide wheel turned by the weight of people climbing on steps around its edge, used in the past to provide power for machines or as a punishment in prisons.

In the exercise treadmill test (sometimes simply called a treadmill test or exercise test), a continuous electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) recording of the heart is made as the patient performs increasing levels of exercise on the treadmill which is tilted to produce the effect of going up a small hill. The patient can stop the test at any time, if necessary. Afterwards the patient has heart and blood pressure checked. There is very little risk in taking the test in healthy persons -- no more than if a person walks fast or jogs up a big hill. Medical professionals should be present in case something unusual happens during the test. The exercise treadmill is a screening test for the presence of narrowed coronary arteries that can limit the supply of oxygenated blood to the heart muscle during exercise. The test also detects abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias).