Influencing people to walk more throughout the day is a common behavior change that is often promoted by physical activity researchers and health professionals. It seems that this may be attainable now more than ever with the advent and subsequent widespread use of wearable physical activity trackers, most notably brand name devices like Garmin, FitBit, and Apple Watch. Dr. Kelly Evenson has been on the forefront of researching this technology and applying it to increase the awareness of the need for, and practice of, regular participation in physical activity among the general population.
According to Dr. Evenson, 69% of U.S. adults track at least one health indicator on average, of which most is done mentally. Of course, a convenience of physical activity trackers includes the ability to monitor multiple measures of fitness. Five of the most common and useful health tracking measurements include number of steps, total distance, and level of physical activity achieved, energy expenditure, and sleep. The ideal device combines the aspects of being wearable, controllable, mobile, and enhancing of physical activity. However, above all else, Dr. Evenson stressed the need for devices to be proven to have both intra- and inter-device reliability and meet both construct and criterion validity. Dr. Evenson’s research is mostly focused on FitBit, and using the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, she has found that there are poor correlations between activity and body mass index regarding the use of FitBits. However, the technology is still very much in its infancy and has positive implications for use among cardiac rehabilitation patients.
As an aspiring strength and conditioning professional, I am highly intrigued by the use of physical activity trackers and their ability to monitor fitness among athletes and non-athletes alike. Catapult is a popular and successful Australian-based company leading the way in fitness monitoring through its partnerships with Australia’s Cooperative Research Centres and the Australian Institute of Sport. Combining the technologies of GPS tracking, accelerometers, video and statistical analysis, and computer-based software programs, Catapult is on the forefront of the application, prescription, and analysis of physical activity trackers.
Ultimately, I see a link to public health practice when I think about Catapult being utilized in research studies for the general population. If public health practitioners could partner with a company like Catapult, the results could be astounding. Researchers could have endless opportunities to validate and test Catapult products and their reliability in the general population, which could lead to even better physical activity and fitness practices and recommendations. Also, Catapult could create a market among the general population with the advent of new devices, increasing competition and supply-and-demand for wearable technology that would create greater access for the general population.
What do you think – Is there a viable connection between companies like Catapult and public health researchers and practitioners? Are physical activity trackers apart of the future of public health research? What kind of impact can physical activity tracking have on the general population?
Follow this link for more information on Catapult: https://www.catapultsports.com/
I believe physical activity trackers are a part of the near future in which people should and will track most of their physical activity on their smart wear devices. Of course it is still in its infancy, but there are many positives to take from its impact so far and there is evidence of that as well, such as is described here. I also agree on the necessity for it to improve measurement accuracy, inter- and intra- reliability. This will come by finding improved ways to monitor this in which we will learn from trial and error and/or over time.
However, it may not be affordable or appeal to all people. What are some ways in which these issues can be solved? Overall, I think it would be a smart move for public health practitioners to jump on this hype train, at least for the time being. Working together, we as a society progress and we want to make a positive impact on our future generations and ameliorate the effects of overweight and obesity using many factors, such as these step trackers.
I think that physical activity tracking can have a big impact on the general population. When we covered in class the topic about point of decision prompts, we discussed how interventions providing consumers with familiar information that require less mental processing are typically successful. I was thinking that distance, which might not require a computation being useful for people at the point of decision making, could be a practical variable to be used by the general population. However, Dr. Evenson mentioned that there are very few studies about the validity of physical activity trackers to determine distance, and there were no studies of reliability on this topic either. Maybe, this would be an interesting variable in next studies about physical activity tracking.
David,
I have used a FitBit for 2-3 years now and like most people that use a wearable physical activity tracker, I enjoy seeing my numbers after an active day. Wanting to see higher numbers and reach my specific goals is something that helps motivate me to be more physically active. Tracking my total steps and time spent in different heart-rate zones was addicting when I first got a FitBit, but since upgrading over a year ago, my favorite part of my Charge 2 is the sleep monitoring function.
I do not let myself get too occupied or focused on the specific numbers related to activity and try to use them as a general guide. Things like washing your hands, playing cards, and even petting your dog can distort the accuracy of the device. For health and physical education classes, many upper elementary and middle schools have incorporated step counters that attach onto shoes and heart-rate monitors that can be worn around the wrist or arm. These have been very successful for the schools that can afford the devices, but this is something that is not always easy to make room for in the school’s budget.
I am not familiar with the brands, but I would expect many of those devices to be more accurate than, but similar my FitBit. It’s something that I definitely have interest in field testing and should have done last spring with the functional motor assessment class that we shared together with Dr. Horvat while we had access to a few other devices. Specific to your strength and conditioning interest, I bet you were interested in the accelerometers recording devices.
I agree with your final point. I’ve only heard of Catapult, but if they, FitBit, or Garmin could partner with a public health practitioner then they could have a great outreach with communities. I can see physical activity trackers having an impact on the general population. Trusting technology is a difficulty, but most people think that if something is $200+ then it should be pretty accurate in its readings. I have not done so, but the FitBit app has a tab that is for “Challenges” where you can add friends. It also has a tab that I have not used for “Community” with local events, fitness related news, and discovering groups like swimming and cycling.
Today, teens and adults of all ages are using wearable activity tracking devices. To impact, I can see different local and big name businesses giving coupons or some kind of promo code for certain achievements or consistency benchmarks. While they might not be specific to the exact step or calorie burned, I think that they serve as good guides.
Hi David, thanks for the great overview of Dr. Evenson’s presentation. While I also attended the lecture, it was great to hear about your perspective. My background is mainly in exercise physiology and public health so I found it really interesting how you tied the information to your strength and conditioning emphasis. I think there is definitely a spectrum in terms of physical activity trackers. On one hand, like you mention, they can provide great information to athletes, coaches and trainers to gauge everything from regular daily activity, to recovery and injury. However, as Dr. Evenson discussed, we may eventually be able to use them to look at physical activity levels across the population as a whole. Like she mentioned, the devices do have a long way to go in terms of reliability and validity. In addition, it will be important to make sure that any data collected from them for surveillance purposes is truly representative of the population as a whole. Right now it seems that those using activity trackers may be quite different from the rest of the population in terms of physical activity levels, other health behaviors, and demographic characteristics such as socioeconomic status. It will be interesting to see where this field goes over the next few years!