Pedometry to Prevent Cardiorespiratory Fitness Decline—Is it Effective?
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Physically active providers are more likely to prescribe exercise. Unfortunately, many become sedentary during their training. We examined pedometry as an incentive to promote physical activity in a cohort of medical students. METHODS: This was a prospective, unblinded clinical trial of pedometry. 107 preclinical medical students volunteered. 50 students received Fitbit pedometers and 57 served as controls. All students ran 1.5- or 2-mile timed runs before pedometer issue, and again 1 year after. Change in run times were the primary outcome measure. Step counts, body composition, and exercise frequency were secondary outcomes. RESULTS: 76% of students with pedometers reported increased motivation to exercise and 57% reported changing daily routines as a result of pedometry. Active pedometry participants declined from 48/50 initially to 22/50 over 13 months. Run times slowed an average of 5.0 seconds for pedometry users vs. 12.3 seconds for the control group. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.48). CONCLUSIONS: A subset of future physicians reported increased motivation to exercise after a trial of pedometry. However, adherence over the long term was poor and it seems to have a limited impact on aerobic exercise performance in this population.
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- Authors
- Lystrup, R. M., West, G. F., Olsen, C., Ward, M., & Stephens, M. B.
- Affiliations
- Tripler Army Medical Center (US)
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (US)
- Venue
- Military Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 181
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1235-1239
- ISSN
- 0026-4075 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-613X
- OpenAlex
- W2527866073
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Military Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
- Keywords
- pedometry, pedometers, Fitbit, physical activity promotion, exercise adherence, medical students, cardiorespiratory fitness, running performance, exercise motivation, step count, body composition
- MeSH terms
- Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Adult, Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Male, Military Personnel, Motivation, Prospective Studies, Reward, Students, Exercise
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