squatting
Last reviewed 01/2018
Squatting is a feature often reported by parents about their children - for example older children may be seen to squat down on their haunches with their knees up to their chest after exercise.
It is a features of cyanotic heart disease, and in particular of tetralogy of Fallot.
Squatting traps deoxygenated venous blood in the legs preventing it from returning to the heart, and thus improves oxygen saturation as detected systemically, and raises aortic pressure by obstructing the femoral arteries with a consequent reduction in the size of the right to left shunt.