MATT ROBERTS | TRAINING ARTICLES

SHOULD YOU RECOMMEND A PEDOMETER TO YOUR CLIENT?

By Karen Weir

There are plenty of websites and other sources that advocate the use of pedometers as great motivation tools for getting people active. But just how effective are they? Well it depends on what you mean by effective and which one you use. The April 2005 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise proved that women who wear a pedometer actually take about 20% more steps than those who don’t.

However, in May this year a laboratory study was carried out at Loughborough University to evaluate a commercially available pedometer (that is currently being used to promote physical activity as part of a National Programme) and test its accuracy.

The study involved 68 participants of varying ages and BMIs wearing 2 Silva pedometers. One on the right hip and one on the left hip. They each walked on a treadmill at different speeds – 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4 mph. The pedometer step counts were compared with actual steps counted.

Across the speeds tested, the percentage error in steps ranged from 6.7% at 4mph to 46.9% at 2 mph. While the error range for fast walkers at 4mph may just about be acceptable it certainly is not for people walking at an average pace 2 mph (the vast majority of walkers).

In a second related study 134 participants were recruited to wear a Silva pedometer, an NL-1000 pedometer and an ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer during waking hours for 1 day. The Silva and NL-1000 pedometer step counts were then compared to the ActiGraph step counts. The percentage error for the Silva model was 36.3 % and for the NL-1000 it was 9%. There were also significant differences in percent error for the Silva pedometer observed across BMI groups, with the percentage increasing in line with obesity (normal weight – 21% error, overweight – 40.2 % error, obese – 59.2% error).

The conclusion of the study suggests the Silva pedometer is unacceptably inaccurate for activity promotion purposes particularly in overweight and obese adults. Pedometers are an excellent tool for activity promotion, however the use of inexpensive, untested pedometers is not recommended as they will lead to user frustration, low intervention compliance and adverse reaction to the instrument.

Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine

Accessed 3rd June 2009