What is an ECG? Your heart produces its own electricity but the amount is very small. An ECG machine can detect it, amplify it and print it out on a piece of paper. It is simply a painless recording of your heart's electrical activity. This is probably the first test you will have. It is considered the most basic, baseline test that all cardiac patients receive. It provides your doctor with some general information about any abnormalities of the heart rhythm, enlargement of the hear chambes and evidence of heart damage from heart attacks?

How is an ECG done? Up to 10 small electrodes will be placed in specific locations on your arms, legs and around your chest. An ECG machine then records the electrical current that your heart generates while you are laying quietly on the bed. A typical ECG appears below:

When you buy a car, you wander around it and look at it from several direction. Right?!.Well. the electrocardiogram "looks" at your heart from different directions. That's all there is to it!