A stress test is an assessment of someone’s physiological or aerobic reserve, and a fairly good assessment of a person’s hemodynamic and circulatory response to exercise.

The most common algorithm that’s used on a treadmill is something called the BRUCE protocol. The test assesses your fitness level, the health of the circulatory system, and looks for problems with plugged arteries oratherosclerosis .

The treadmill examination actually doesn’t allow healthcare providers to look at the arteries themselves; but infers a problem with the arteries.

Because of this limitation, treadmill examinations can be wrong, and there is up to a one-third chance of a false positive.