system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why can’t you take a pulse with your thumb?

I’ve been told that your thumb ‘has its own pulse’ but I don’t understand how that would work could someone please explain?
gpt
Like all body parts, your fingers and thumb have arteries supplying them with blood. The fingers have two arteries supplying them from the side,  but the thumb has a single artery running through the middle. When you use your thumb to feel for a pulse, especially one that is absent or weak, you risk feeling your own pulse instead of (or in addition to) the patient's, and you may draw wrong conclusions.