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. 2023 Jul 20;23(14):6555.
doi: 10.3390/s23146555.

Beyond the Clinic: Maximum Free-Living Stepping as a Potential Measure of Physical Performance

Craig Speirs  1   2 , Mark D Dunlop  2 , Marc Roper  2 , Malcolm Granat  3
Affiliations

Beyond the Clinic: Maximum Free-Living Stepping as a Potential Measure of Physical Performance

Craig Speirs et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Measures of physical performance captured within a clinical setting are commonly used as a surrogate for underlying health or disease risk within an individual. By measuring physical behaviour within a free-living setting, we may be able to better quantify physical performance. In our study, we outline an approach to measure maximum free-living step count using a body-worn sensor as an indicator of physical performance. We then use this approach to characterise the maximum step count over a range of window durations within a population of older adults to identify a preferred duration over which to measure the maximum step count. We found that while almost all individuals (97%) undertook at least one instance of continuous stepping longer than two minutes, a sizeable minority of individuals (31%) had no periods of continuous stepping longer than six minutes. We suggest that the maximum step count measured over a six-minute period may be too sensitive to the adults' lack of opportunity to undertake prolonged periods of stepping, and a two-minute window could provide a more representative measure of physical performance.

Keywords: accelerometer; activPAL; iData; physical activity; stepping.

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Conflict of interest statement

Craig Speirs is an employee at PAL Technologies Ltd. Malcolm Granat is a co-inventor of the activPAL3™ physical activity monitor and a director of PAL Technologies Ltd.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of calculating total step count using a sliding window approach. The lower bar shows the posture of the individual, and the upper bar gives distribution of stepping activity within the upright container. Bar width is used to denote the duration of each stepping bout. The period of activity considered within the current search window is represented by the semi-transparent box.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of individuals with at least one instance with a window of activity composed of differing proportions of stepping.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean daily occurrence of continuous stepping bouts of different duration during observation period (seven-day observation period).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of maximum six-minute step count (seven-day observation period).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distribution of maximum two-minute step count (seven-day observation period).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Per-individual relationship between peak two-minute step accumulation and peak six-minute step accumulation (seven-day observation period).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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