Watson's water hammer pulse is the medical sign which describes a pulse

Pulse

In medicine, one's pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the heartbeat by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist , behind the knee , on the inside of the elbow , and near the...

 that is bounding and forceful, or, in other words, rapidly increasing and subsequently collapsing, as if it were the hitting of a water hammer

Water hammer

Water hammer is a pressure surge or wave resulting when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly . Water hammer commonly occurs when a valve is closed suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe...

 that was causing the pulse.

This is associated with increased stroke volume

Stroke volume

In cardiovascular physiology, stroke volume is the volume of blood pumped from one ventricle of the heart with each beat. SV is calculated using measurements of ventricle volumes from an echocardiogram and subtracting the volume of the blood in the ventricle at the end of a beat from the volume...

 of the left ventricle

Left ventricle

The left ventricle is one of four chambers in the human heart. It receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium via the mitral valve, and pumps it into the aorta via the aortic valve.-Shape:...

 and decrease in the peripheral resistance leading to the widened pulse pressure

Pulse pressure

Pulse Pressure is most easily defined as being the amount of pressure required to create the feeling of a pulse. Measured in millimeters of mercury , the pressure difference between the systolic and diastolic pressures give you the amount of pressure change to create the pulse, which is the pulse...

 of aortic regurgitation.

Eponym

"Watson's water hammer pulse" and "Corrigan's pulse" refer to similar observations. However, the former usually refers to measurement of a pulse on a limb, while the latter refers to measurement of the pulse of the carotid artery

Carotid artery

Carotid artery can refer to:* Common carotid artery* External carotid artery* Internal carotid artery...

.

• "Corrigan's pulse" is named for Sir Dominic Corrigan
  Dominic Corrigan
  Sir Dominic Corrigan was a physician, known for his original observations in heart disease. The abnormal "collapsing" pulse of aortic valve insufficiency is named Corrigan's pulse after him.-Birth and Education:The son of a dealer in agricultural tools, Corrigan was educated in St...
  
  , the Irish physician, who characterized it in 1832.

• "Watson's water hammer pulse" is named for Thomas Watson
  Thomas Watson (physician)
  Sir Thomas Watson, 1st Baronet, was a British physician who is primarily known for describing the water hammer pulse found in aortic regurgitation in 1844...
  
  , who characterized it in 1844.

Observation

To feel a water hammer pulse: with the patient reclining, the examiner raises the patient's arm vertically upwards. The examiner grasps the muscular part of the patient's forearm. A water hammer pulse is felt as a tapping impulse which is transmitted through the bulk of the muscles. This happens because the blood that is pumped to the arm during systole is emptied very quickly due to the gravity effect on the raised arm. This results in the artery emptying back into the heart during diastole, therefore causing a palpable pulse.

Causes

Water hammer pulse is commonly found when a patient has in aortic regurgitation. A more comprehensive list of causes follows:

1. Physiological

• Fever
  Fever
  Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
  
  
• Pregnancy
  Pregnancy
  Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
  
  

2. Cardiac lesions

• Aortic regurgitation
• Patent ductus arteriosus
  Patent ductus arteriosus
  Patent ductus arteriosus is a congenital disorder in the heart wherein a neonate's ductus arteriosus fails to close after birth. Early symptoms are uncommon, but in the first year of life include increased work of breathing and poor weight gain...
  
  
• Systolic hypertension
• Bradycardia
  Bradycardia
  Bradycardia , in the context of adult medicine, is the resting heart rate of under 60 beats per minute, though it is seldom symptomatic until the rate drops below 50 beat/min. It may cause cardiac arrest in some patients, because those with bradycardia may not be pumping enough oxygen to their heart...
  
  
• Aortopulmonary window
  Aortopulmonary window
  Aortopulmonary window also refers to a congenital cardiac defect called aortopulmonary septal defect. There is a deficiency in the septum between the aorta and pulmonary artery, resulting in a communication between the two....
  
  
• Rupture of sinus of Valsalva into heart chambers

3. Syndromes or High output states

• Anemia
  Anemia
  Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
  
  
• Cor pulmonale
  Cor pulmonale
  Cor pulmonale or pulmonary heart disease is enlargement of the right ventricle of the heart as a response to increased resistance or high blood pressure in the lungs ....
  
  
• Cirrhosis of liver
• Beriberi
  Beriberi
  Beriberi is a nervous system ailment caused by a thiamine deficiency in the diet. Thiamine is involved in the breakdown of energy molecules such as glucose and is also found on the membranes of neurons...
  
  
• Thyrotoxicosis
• Arteriovenous fistula
  Arteriovenous fistula
  An arteriovenous fistula is an abnormal connection or passageway between an artery and a vein. It may be congenital, surgically created for hemodialysis treatments, or acquired due to pathologic process, such as trauma or erosion of an arterial aneurysm....
  
  
• Paget's disease
  Paget's disease
  Sir James Paget, a surgeon and pathologist, described several diseases, including:* Paget's disease of bone * Paget's disease of the breast* Paget-Schroetter disease* Extramammary Paget's disease...
  
  

4. Other causes

• Chronic alcoholism