Abstract
Hiking is a popular form of recreation with over 57 million participants in the U.S. Many of those hikers also use smart-watches to track their steps, distance and other variables. Anecdotally, the use of trekking poles appears to reduce the accuracy of these smart-watch measures, most notably step counts. PURPOSE: To determine if differences were observed in step counts when hiking with or without trekking poles. METHODS: 10 recreationally active adults (n=5 males, n=5 females, aged 20-39 yrs) randomly completed three trekking pole hiking conditions (no poles, 1 pole, or 2 poles) of ~10 min. uphill and ~10 min. downhill on the same trail. Participant step counts were assessed with Garmin Instinct 2 and 2S smart-watches, one on each wrist and standardized to steps per km for comparisons. When 1 pole was used, the participant was asked to keep the pole in their dominant hand. A paired t-test was used to compare Garmin step counts on the right and left wrist for each pole condition. This was followed by ANOVA and a post-hoc Tukey test to evaluate step counts across conditions, p<0.05. RESULTS: Right and left wrist step counts were not statistically different in the no pole and 2 pole conditions (p=.18 and p=.11 respectively). Step counts were consistently lower in the pole hand during the 1 pole condition (766.2 ± 281.0 vs. 1583.1 ± 112.0 steps per km, p<.001). Comparisons across conditions revealed that there was no difference in step counts for the smart-watch on the wrist(s) holding a pole, whether that was a 1 pole condition or a 2 pole condition. Likewise, there were no difference in step counts for the smartwatch on the wrist(s) without a pole, whether that was during the 1 pole condition or no pole condition. The differences were consistently found when comparing step counts between pole and no pole smart-watches. When a pole was used, smart-watch steps on that Garmin were undercounted 49.8% to 56.9%. CONCLUSIONS: Trekking poles do reduce the accuracy of step counts on Garmin smart-watches by an average of 53% resulting in significant undercounting of steps during hiking. Actual step counts are about double what is measured on the Garmin smart-watch when trekking poles are used in that hand.
Recommended Citation
Gines, Josie; Hoag, Bethany; Mcarthur, Kavon; Peck, Myranda; Kerwin, Catalina; Fullmer, Wyatt; Navalta, James W.; Goonan, Kelly; Lawrence, Marcus M.; and Taylor, Julie E.
(2024)
"The Impact of Trekking Poles on Smart-Watch Step Counts During Outdoor Hiking in Healthy Adults,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 14:
Iss.
4, Article 130.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol14/iss4/130
Included in
Health and Physical Education Commons, Medical Education Commons, Sports Sciences Commons