THE UTILITY OF THE DIGI-WALKER STEP COUNTER FOR ASSESSING LOCOMOTER ACTIVITY

Abstract

57 A limitation of step counters is that they are only suited to locomotor activity; however, with the increased emphasis on brisk walking as a form of moderate-intensity exercise it is important to evaluate their utility under these conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the steps required to complete a standard distance under different conditions. Participants (16 males / 15 females - mean age = 30) randomly completed 1 mile at 3 different paces (walking: 4 mph, jogging: 6 mph, and running: 7.5 mph) under both laboratory and track conditions. No differences were found for setting, so results were examined with a two-way (gender x pace) repeated measures ANOVA. The gender by pace interaction was significant, F(2,41) = 6.37, P <.05. Simple effects for pace were significant for both males [F(2,36)=94.1, P<.001] and females [F(2,34)=251.7, P <.001] with significant univariate differences (Tukey) observed for all pairwise comparisons (p<.05). The mean number of steps observed for males were 1874, 1605 and 1306 for the walk, jog, and run paces, respectively. The parallel values for females were 1996, 1662, and 1330. Step counts decreased with increasing pace with the effect being slightly steeper in females. Gender and inter-individual differences are related to differences in Ht ( r=-.70), Wt ( r=-.44), leg length ( r=-.74), and body fatness ( r=.65) while difference in steps by pace reflect differences in stride length. The steps required for different paces of locomotor activity depend on the pace at which the activity was performed.