Validation of Contemporary Physical Activity Tracking Technologies through Exercise in a Controlled Environment

Extended periods engaged in sedentary behavior increases the risk of becoming overweight and/or obese which is linked to other health problems. Adding technology to the term ‘active living’ permits its inclusion in promoting and facilitating habitual physical activity. Technology can either act as a barrier to, or facilitate this lifestyle, depending on the chosen technology. Physical Activity Monitoring Technologies (PAMTs) are a popular example of such technologies. Different contemporary PAMTs have been evaluated based on customer reviews; however, there is a lack of published experimental research into the efficacy of PAMTs. This research aims to investigate the reliability of four PAMTs: two wristbands (Fitbit Flex and Jawbone UP), a waist-clip (Fitbit One), and a mobile application (iPhone Health Application) for recording a specific distance walked on a treadmill (1.5km) at constant speed. Physical activity tracking technologies are varied in their recordings, even while performing the same activity. This research demonstrates that Jawbone UP band recorded the most accurate distance compared to Fitbit One, Fitbit Flex, and iPhone Health Application.




References:
[1] D. W. Lou. (May 2014). Sedentary Behaviors and Youth Issue Brief. Available: http://activelivingresearch.org/sites/default/files/ALR_Brief_SedentaryBehaviors_IssueBrief_May2014.pdf.
[2] C. f. D. C. a. Prevention. (2015). Childhood Obesity Facts. Available: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm.
[3] S. R. Daniels, D. K. Arnett, R. H. Eckel, S. S. Gidding, L. L. Hayman, S. Kumanyika, et al., "Overweight in children and adolescents pathophysiology, consequences, prevention, and treatment," Circulation, vol. 111, pp. 1999-2012, 2005.
[4] R. Maddison, Y. Jiang, S. Vander Hoorn, D. Exeter, C. Ni Mhurchu, and E. Dorey, "Describing patterns of physical activity in adolescents using global positioning systems and accelerometry," Pediatric exercise science, vol. 22, p. 392, 2010.
[5] P. Gordon-Larsen, R. G. McMurray, and B. M. Popkin, "Determinants of adolescent physical activity and inactivity patterns," Pediatrics, vol. 105, pp. e83-e83, 2000.
[6] T. D. o. Health. (June 2014). Make Your Move – Sit Less – Be active for life! - A resource for families. Available: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines#families.
[7] J. J. Reilly, L. Kelly, C. Montgomery, A. Williamson, A. Fisher, J. H. McColl, et al., "Physical activity to prevent obesity in young children: cluster randomised controlled trial," Bmj, vol. 333, p. 1041, 2006.
[8] D. E. Warburton, C. W. Nicol, and S. S. Bredin, "Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence," Canadian medical association journal, vol. 174, pp. 801-809, 2006.
[9] T. D. o. Health. (2014). Australia's Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. Available: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines.
[10] M. S. Tremblay, D. E. Warburton, I. Janssen, D. H. Paterson, A. E. Latimer, R. E. Rhodes, et al., "New Canadian physical activity guidelines," Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, vol. 36, pp. 36-46, 2011.
[11] N. H. Brodersen, A. Steptoe, D. R. Boniface, and J. Wardle, "Trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviour in adolescence: ethnic and socioeconomic differences," British journal of sports medicine, vol. 41, pp. 140-144, 2007.
[12] R. P. Troiano, D. Berrigan, K. W. Dodd, L. C. Masse, T. Tilert, and M. McDowell, "Physical activity in the United States measured by accelerometer," Medicine and science in sports and exercise, vol. 40, p. 181, 2008.
[13] T. Toscos, A. Faber, K. Connelly, and A. M. Upoma, "Encouraging physical activity in teens Can technology help reduce barriers to physical activity in adolescent girls?," in Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 2008. PervasiveHealth 2008. Second International Conference on, 2008, pp. 218-221.
[14] D. M. Giannakidou, A. Kambas, N. Ageloussis, I. Fatouros, C. Christoforidis, F. Venetsanou, et al., "The validity of two Omron pedometers during treadmill walking is speed dependent," European journal of applied physiology, vol. 112, pp. 49-57, 2012.
[15] B. C. Choi, A. W. Pak, and J. C. Choi, "Daily step goal of 10,000 steps: a literature review," Clinical & Investigative Medicine, vol. 30, pp. 146-151, 2007.
[16] C. Tudor-Locke, R. P. Pangrazi, C. B. Corbin, W. J. Rutherford, S. D. Vincent, A. Raustorp, et al., "BMI-referenced standards for recommended pedometer-determined steps/day in children," Preventive medicine, vol. 38, pp. 857-864, 2004.
[17] C. Tudor-Locke, C. L. Craig, M. W. Beets, S. Belton, G. M. Cardon, S. Duncan, et al., "How many steps/day are enough? For children and adolescents," Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, vol. 8, p. 78, 2011.
[18] C. Tudor-Locke, C. L. Craig, Y. Aoyagi, R. C. Bell, K. A. Croteau, I. De Bourdeaudhuij, et al., "How many steps/day are enough? For older adults and special populations," Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, vol. 8, p. 80, 2011.
[19] C. N. Hultquist, C. Albright, and D. L. Thompson, "Comparison of walking recommendations in previously inactive women," Med Sci Sports Exerc, vol. 37, pp. 676-683, 2005.
[20] R. Cuberek, W. El Ansari, K. Frömel, K. Skalik, and E. Sigmund, "A comparison of two motion sensors for the assessment of free-living physical activity of adolescents," International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 7, pp. 1558-1576, 2010.
[21] M. Ayabe, K. Ishii, K. Takayama, J. Aoki, and H. Tanaka, "Comparison of interdevice measurement difference of pedometers in younger and older adults," British journal of sports medicine, vol. 44, pp. 95-99, 2010.
[22] C. M. Lee and M. Gorelick, "Validity of the Smarthealth watch to measure heart rate during rest and exercise," Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, vol. 15, pp. 18-25, 2011.
[23] J. Takacs, C. L. Pollock, J. R. Guenther, M. Bahar, C. Napier, and M. A. Hunt, "Validation of the Fitbit One activity monitor device during treadmill walking," Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 17, pp. 496-500, 2014.
[24] F. Guo, Y. Li, M. S. Kankanhalli, and M. S. Brown, "An evaluation of wearable activity monitoring devices," in Proceedings of the 1st ACM international workshop on Personal data meets distributed multimedia, 2013, pp. 31-34.
[25] L. Lomas. (11th November 2014). Seven ways technology has developed over the last 10 years. Available: http://www.purplewifi.net/seven-ways-technology-has-developed-over-the-last-10-years/.
[26] A. Lenhart, M. Madden, and P. Hitlin, "Teens and Technology: Youth are leading the transition to a fully wired and mobile nation," PEW Internet & American Life Project, July 27, 2005.
[27] A. Lenhart, "Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015," Pew Research CenterApril 9, 2015.
[28] A. B. o. Statistics. (24 February 2014). Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2010-11 Available: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/0/4E4D83E02F39FC32CA25796600152BF4?opendocument.
[29] G. J. Norman, M. F. Zabinski, M. A. Adams, D. E. Rosenberg, A. L. Yaroch, and A. A. Atienza, "A review of eHealth interventions for physical activity and dietary behavior change," American journal of preventive medicine, vol. 33, pp. 336-345. e16, 2007.
[30] A. C. King, D. K. Ahn, B. M. Oliveira, A. A. Atienza, C. M. Castro, and C. D. Gardner, "Promoting physical activity through hand-held computer technology," American journal of preventive medicine, vol. 34, pp. 138-142, 2008.
[31] B. Marcus, N. Owen, L. Forsyth, N. Cavill, and F. Fridinger, "Physical activity interventions using mass media, print media, and information technology," American journal of preventive medicine, vol. 15, pp. 362-378, 1998.
[32] S. Consolvo, P. Klasnja, D. W. McDonald, and J. A. Landay, "Goal-setting considerations for persuasive technologies that encourage physical activity," in Proceedings of the 4th international Conference on Persuasive Technology, 2009, p. 8.
[33] S. Consolvo, K. Everitt, I. Smith, and J. A. Landay, "Design requirements for technologies that encourage physical activity," in Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, 2006, pp. 457-466.
[34] J. J. Lin, L. Mamykina, S. Lindtner, G. Delajoux, and H. B. Strub, "Fish’n’Steps: Encouraging physical activity with an interactive computer game," in UbiComp 2006: Ubiquitous Computing, ed: Springer, 2006, pp. 261-278.
[35] V. H. Heyward and A. L. Gibson, "Technology can boost physical activity promotion" Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription, Seventh Edition, 2014.
[36] P. J. Mancuso, M. Thompson, M. Tietze, S. Kelk, and G. Roux, "Can Patient Use of Daily Activity Monitors Change Nurse Practitioner Practice?," The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, vol. 10, pp. 787-793. e4, 2014.
[37] Y. Varatharajah, N. Karunathilaka, M. Rismi, S. Kotinkaduwa, and D. H. Dias, "Body area sensor network for evaluating fitness exercise," in Wireless and Mobile Networking Conference (WMNC), 2013 6th Joint IFIP, 2013, pp. 1-8.
[38] D. M. Bravata, C. Smith-Spangler, V. Sundaram, A. L. Gienger, N. Lin, R. Lewis, et al., "Using pedometers to increase physical activity and improve health: a systematic review," Jama, vol. 298, pp. 2296-2304, 2007.
[39] C. B. Petersen, M. Severin, A. W. Hansen, T. Curtis, M. Grønbæk, and J. S. Tolstrup, "A population-based randomized controlled trial of the effect of combining a pedometer with an intervention toolkit on physical activity among individuals with low levels of physical activity or fitness," Preventive medicine, vol. 54, pp. 125-130, 2012.
[40] J. B. Wang, L. A. Cadmus-Bertram, L. Natarajan, M. M. White, H. Madanat, J. F. Nichols, et al., "Wearable Sensor/Device (Fitbit One) and SMS Text-Messaging Prompts to Increase Physical Activity in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial," Telemedicine and e-Health, 2015.
[41] R. Altamimi, G. Skinner, and K. Nesbitt, "FITTER-A Framework for Integrating Activity Tracking Technologies into Electric Recreation for Children and Adolescents," International Journal of Medical, Pharmaceutical Science and Engineering, vol. 7, 2013.
[42] R. MARK, M. S. BKIN, and R. E. RHODES, "Active Video Games: A Good Way to Exercise?," WellSpring, 2009.
[43] J. Yim and T. Graham, "Using games to increase exercise motivation," in Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Future Play, 2007, pp. 166-173.
[44] R. Altamimi and G. Skinner, "A survey of active video game literature."
[45] K. Kiili and S. Merilampi, "Developing engaging exergames with simple motion detection," in Proceedings of the 14th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, 2010, pp. 103-110.
[46] S. Consolvo, D. W. McDonald, T. Toscos, M. Y. Chen, J. Froehlich, B. Harrison, et al., "Activity sensing in the wild: a field trial of ubifit garden," in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2008, pp. 1797-1806.
[47] M. H. Van den Berg, J. W. Schoones, and T. P. V. Vlieland, "Internet-based physical activity interventions: a systematic review of the literature," Journal of medical Internet research, vol. 9, 2007.
[48] R. P. Joseph, N. H. Durant, T. J. Benitez, and D. W. Pekmezi, "Internet-based physical activity interventions," American journal of lifestyle medicine, p. 1559827613498059, 2013.
[49] C. Vandelanotte, K. M. Spathonis, E. G. Eakin, and N. Owen, "Website-delivered physical activity interventions: A review of the literature," American journal of preventive medicine, vol. 33, pp. 54-64, 2007.
[50] R. Hurling, M. Catt, M. De Boni, B. W. Fairley, T. Hurst, P. Murray, et al., "Using internet and mobile phone technology to deliver an automated physical activity program: randomized controlled trial," Journal of medical Internet research, vol. 9, 2007.
[51] E. O. H. Unit and C. O. O. Ottawa Public Health. (2015). Adults - Physical Activity. Available: http://www.eohu.ca/segments/vocabulary_e.php?segmentID=2&topicID=118#350.
[52] D. M. Williams, C. Matthews, C. Rutt, M. A. Napolitano, and B. H. Marcus, "Interventions to increase walking behavior," Medicine and science in sports and exercise, vol. 40, p. S567, 2008.
[53] C. R. Richardson, T. L. Newton, J. J. Abraham, A. Sen, M. Jimbo, and A. M. Swartz, "A meta-analysis of pedometer-based walking interventions and weight loss," The Annals of Family Medicine, vol. 6, pp. 69-77, 2008.
[54] V. Lugade, E. Fortune, M. Morrow, and K. Kaufman, "Validity of using tri-axial accelerometers to measure human movement—Part I: Posture and movement detection," Medical engineering & physics, vol. 36, pp. 169-176, 2014.
[55] P. L. Schneider, S. E. Crouter, O. Lukajic, and D. R. Bassett, "Accuracy and reliability of 10 pedometers for measuring steps over a 400-m walk," Medicine and science in sports and exercise, vol. 35, pp. 1779-1784, 2003.
[56] D. Bassett Jr, S. Leggett, C. Mathien, J. Main, D. Hunter, G. Duncan, et al., "Accuracy of Five Electronic Pedometers for Measuring Distance Walked 310," Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 28, p. 52, 1996.
[57] S. E. Crouter, P. L. Schneider, M. Karabulut, and D. R. Bassett, "Validity of 10 electronic pedometers for measuring steps, distance, and energy cost," Med. sci. sports exerc, vol. 35, pp. 1455-60, 2003.
[58] D. W. Esliger, A. Probert, G. S. Connor, S. Bryan, M. Laviolette, and M. S. Tremblay, "Validity of the Actical accelerometer step-count function," Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 39, pp. 1200-1204, 2007.
[59] G. C. Le Masurier and C. Tudor-Locke, "Comparison of pedometer and accelerometer accuracy under controlled conditions," Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 35, pp. 867-871, 2003.
[60] B. Dijkstra, W. Zijlstra, E. Scherder, and Y. Kamsma, "Detection of walking periods and number of steps in older adults and patients with Parkinson's disease: accuracy of a pedometer and an accelerometry-based method," Age and ageing, vol. 37, pp. 436-441, 2008.
[61] C. G. Ryan, P. M. Grant, W. W. Tigbe, and M. H. Granat, "The validity and reliability of a novel activity monitor as a measure of walking," British journal of sports medicine, vol. 40, pp. 779-784, 2006.
[62] R. Hasson, J. Haller, D. Pober, J. Staudenmayer, and P. Freedson, "Validity of the Omron HJ-112 pedometer during treadmill walking," Medicine+ Science in Sports+ Exercise, vol. 41, p. 805, 2009.
[63] W. Park, V. J. Lee, B. Ku, and H. Tanaka, "Effect of walking speed and placement position interactions in determining the accuracy of various newer pedometers," Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, vol. 12, pp. 31-37, 2014.
[64] N. F. Butte, U. Ekelund, and K. R. Westerterp, "Assessing physical activity using wearable monitors: measures of physical activity," Med Sci Sports Exerc, vol. 44, pp. S5-12, 2012.
[65] R. Altamimi, K. Nesbitt, and G. Skinner, "Overview of the MySteps ICT Framework," in Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Interactive Entertainment, 2014, pp. 1-3.
[66] R. I. Altamimi, G. D. Skinner, and K. V. Nesbitt, "A Position Paper on Managing Youth Screen Time versus Physical Activity," GSTF Journal on Computing (JoC), vol. 4, 2015.
[67] B. Dolan. (Jan 15, 2014). Fitbit, Jawbone, Nike had 97 percent of fitness tracker retail sales in 2013. Available: http://mobihealthnews.com/28825/fitbit-jawbone-nike-had-97-percent-of-fitness-tracker-retail-sales-in-2013/.
[68] L. Prasuethsut. (August 17, 2015). Best fitness trackers 2015: top activity bands to wear. Available: http://www.techradar.com/au/news/wearables/10-best-fitness-trackers-1277905.
[69] J. Stables. (October 1, 2015). Best fitness trackers 2015: Jawbone, Misfit, Fitbit, Garmin and more - Eat, sleep, walk repeat with these top activity bands Available: http://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/the-best-fitness-tracker.
[70] A. G. Bonomi, G. Plasqui, A. H. Goris, and K. R. Westerterp, "Estimation of Free‐Living Energy Expenditure Using a Novel Activity Monitor Designed to Minimize Obtrusiveness," Obesity, vol. 18, pp. 1845-1851, 2010.
[71] S. E. Crouter, J. R. Churilla, and D. R. Bassett Jr, "Estimating energy expenditure using accelerometers," European journal of applied physiology, vol. 98, pp. 601-612, 2006.
[72] K. L. Dannecker, N. A. Sazonova, E. L. Melanson, E. S. Sazonov, and R. C. Browning, "A comparison of energy expenditure estimation of several physical activity monitors," Medicine and science in sports and exercise, vol. 45, pp. 2105-2112, 2013.
[73] N. Sazonova, R. C. Browning, and E. Sazonov, "Accurate prediction of energy expenditure using a shoe-based activity monitor," Med Sci Sports Exerc, vol. 43, pp. 1312-21, 2011.
[74] H. Issa, A. Shafaee, S. Agne, S. Baumann, and A. Dengel, "User-sentiment based Evaluation for Market Fitness Trackers - Evaluation of Fitbit One, Jawbone Up and Nike+ Fuelband based on Amazon.com Customer Reviews," presented at the ICT4AgeingWell 2015 Monitoring, Accessibility and User Interfaces, Lissabon, Portugal, 2015.