Introduction. Despite current interest in conduit artery stiffness, no in-vivo studies have reported its relationship to surrounding muscle and the possible effects of tethering. We investigated the effect of musculature and handedness on radial artery pulse wave velocity (raPWV) in each arm to test three hypotheses. Is there: 1) a difference in raPWV between the dominant and non-dominant arm? 2) an association between arm muscularity and raPWV? and 3) a difference in raPWV between left and right handers?

Methods: Handedness was assessed by questionnaire and examination of signatures in 54 healthy volunteers (18–40yr; 22 left-handed, male/female 12/10; 32 right-handed, male/female 17/15). Muscularity was defined by arm circumference measurements. raPWV was measured between the distal end of the brachial artery (8MHz Huntleigh Doppler) and the tip of the ring finger (Nelcor clip-on pulse-oximetry sensor). Data were sampled for 30s at 1kHz and analysed off-line.

Results: 1)There was no significant difference between dominant and non-dominant raPWV (paired t-test) and no sex differences in either arm. 2)There was no statistically significant correlation between raPWV and arm musculature. 3)Left handed individuals had higher raPWV than right handers, figure below. (unpaired t-test; both limbs PWV p<0.0001, dominant only p<0.015, non-dominant p<0.001).

Summary and Conclusions: Results failed to support hypotheses 1 and 2, although differences in muscularity between the two arms were small. Intriguingly, for reasons unknown, left handers had stiffer arms than right handers. In future we will measure PWV at other sites and include racquet sport players with greater muscular disparity between each arm.