Accuracy of Wristband Activity Monitors during Ambulation and Activities
Abstract
Purpose The main purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of wristband activity monitors on measuring step counts at prescribed speeds on a treadmill and under short bouts of common daily activities. Methods Thirty healthy young adults wore three wristband activity monitors on both wrists while walking or jogging on a treadmill at different speeds (54, 80, 107, and 134 m·min) and performing six different common daily activities for 5 min each. The monitors included the Fitbit Flex, the Garmin Vivofit, and the Jawbone UP. The common daily activity conditions included two sitting activities (playing a tablet computer game and folding laundry), two walking activities (pushing a stroller, carrying a bag), and two stair climbing activities (down and up). Absolute percentage error (APE) scores were computed to examine the accuracy between actual observed steps and monitor-detected steps. Results Under the treadmill condition, the APE ranged between 1.5% and 9.6%. Accuracy was improved at faster speeds (134 m·min) for all the monitors (APE 33%) when pushing a stroller. Higher APE was observed when worn on the dominant wrist under the common daily activity conditions. Conclusions The wristband activity monitors examined were more accurate for measuring step counts between 80 and 134 m·min as compared with a slower speed. Accuracy under each common daily activity condition ranged widely between monitors and activity, with less error when worn on the nondominant wrist. These r…
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Wrist step counters do not count steps when the wrist is stationary, such as when pushing a stroller or holding onto treadmill hand rails.
“Wrist step counters do not count steps when the wrist is stationary. For example, they do not record steps taken when pushing a stroller [28], or holding onto treadmill hand rails.”
From Step Counting: A Review of Measurement Considerations and Health-Related Applications (2017) · cites this paper as [28]
Wrist-worn step counters record invalid steps when folding laundry or gesturing while talking.
“Furthermore, wrist-worn step counters record invalid steps when folding laundry [28], or gesturing while talking.”
From Step Counting: A Review of Measurement Considerations and Health-Related Applications (2017) · cites this paper as [28]
Three wrist devices (Fitbit Flex, Garmin Vivofit, and Jawbone Up) were quite accurate (absolute percent error for steps = 1.5-9.6%) during treadmill walking and running at 54-134 m/min.
“However, a study by Chen et al. [28] reported that three wrist devices (Fitbit flex, Garmin Vivofit, and Jawbone Up) were quite accurate (absolute percent error for steps = 1.5–9.6%) during treadmill walking and running at 54–134 m/min.”
From Step Counting: A Review of Measurement Considerations and Health-Related Applications (2017) · cites this paper as [28]
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Current State of Commercial Wearable Technology in Physical Activity Monitoring 2015-2017
Bunn, J., Navalta, J. W., Fountaine, C. J., & Reece, J. (2018) · International Journal of Exercise Science · doi:10.70252/njqx2719 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Video-Recorded Validation of Wearable Step Counters under Free-living Conditions
TOTH, L. P., PARK, S., SPRINGER, C. M., FEYERABEND, M. D., STEEVES, J. A., & BASSETT, D. R. (2018) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000001569 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
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“investigated the accuracy of step counts from three commercial wristband monitors (Fitbit Flex, Garmin Vivo fit, Jawbone UP) during walking at different speeds, six different activities including stair climbing and two sitting tasks.[28] Our tested algorithms had comparable accuracies to the above-cited commercial dev…”
BackgroundMethodCongruent Accuracy of Wrist-worn Activity Trackers during Controlled and Free-living Conditions
Dondzila, C. J., Lewis, C., Lopez, J. R., & Parker, T. (2018) · International Journal of Exercise Science · doi:10.70252/ubbt6886 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“com 581 similar to the current study (2, 5, 10, 13, 18).”
BackgroundClevenger, K. A., Molesky, M. J., Vusich, J., & Montoye, A. H. K. (2019) · Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science · doi:10.1080/1091367x.2019.1577737 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- CHEN, M.-D., KUO, C.-C., PELLEGRINI, C. A., & HSU, M.-J.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- Venue
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1942-1949
- ISSN
- 0195-9131 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2364933950
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 11.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- step count accuracy, wearable activity trackers, daily activities, stair climbing
- MeSH terms
- Activities of Daily Living, Exercise Test, Female, Humans, Jogging, Male, Wrist, Exercise, Walking, Young Adult, Accelerometry
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