Study Finds Pokéwalker More Accurate Than Other Pedometers: "


Kotaku points out that the research isn’t being funded by Nintendo, but by Iowa State’s Nutrition and Wellness Research Center.
Study details:
Participants: 22 children, 8 adults
Walking speeds: (1.5, 1.8, 2.1, and 2.5 mph for children, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 mph for adults)
Results: With the Pokewalker, the faster the treadmill speeds = lower amount of error. However, looking at the mean percent error is a little disconcerting (32% ± 23 at 1.5 mph, 12% ± 20 at 1.8 mph, 3.2% ± 5.6 at 2.1 mph, and 2.4% ± 4.2 at 2.5 mph).
Points to Ponder (P2P)
- Something I'll ask Lorraine is the placement of the PokeWalker. I know it comes with a belt clip but I also know alot of kids put it in their pocket or back pack.
- It would also be interesting to see the results of free-living assessments or longer periods of time.
- Is the Pokewalker a piezoelectric device or an accelerometer?
- The SenseWear Armband actually uses an accelerometer to assess steps and is placed on the back of the upper arm. Given the discrepancies in the placement of each product - how does this impact the findings?
Lanningham-Foster, L, Foster, R, Barnes, M, Kracke, E, Kling, S, & Vik, M (2011). Step counts from two new systems during treadmill walking in children and adults The FASEB Journal, 25 (April)
Abstract included below:
Step counts from two new systems during treadmill walking in children and adults
Lorraine Lanningham-Foster, Randal Foster, Megan Barnes, Elsa Kracke, Samantha Kling and Maren VikFood Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Purpose: To validate two new step-counting systems: Sensewear armband (SW) and the Pokewalker game device (PW) against a standard pedometer: DigiWalker (DW) and manual counting (MC).
Methods: Twenty-two children and eight adults were asked to walk at four speeds on a treadmill (1.5, 1.8, 2.1, and 2.5 mph for children, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 mph for adults) while their steps were counted by a trained observer. Percent error of steps was calculated between manual counts and each device for all speeds and assessed using unpaired t-tests. Values are presented as mean percent error ± SD.
RESULTS: In treadmill walking in children, the PW delivered the best results: 32 ± 23 at 1.5 mph, 12 ± 20 at 1.8 mph, 3.2 ± 5.6 at 2.1 mph, and 2.4 ± 4.2 at 2.5 mph, P<0.0005 for all comparisons, whereas error of the DW was between 63 ± 25 and 19 ± 19 and the error of the SW was between 47 ± 31 and 26 ± 28. In adults, the picture was more complicated due to a high degree of variability affecting the ability of significance testing in the DW and SW data. However, the PW had very low average error at higher treadmill speeds: 2.6 ± 2.1 at 2.5 mph and 1.9 ± 0.81 at 3 mph (P < 0.05) whereas the DW and SW did not have errors lower than 18 ± 18.
Conclusion: All devices showed a high degree of error compared to manual counting at slower speeds, but the PW had a substantially reduced error as walking speed increased. This study was funded through a grant from the ISU Nutrition and Wellness Research Center.