Where to Wear a Pedometer

I was reading the abstract for an article in the March 2009 issue of Science & Medicine in Sports & Exercise titled “Validity of the Omron HJ-112 Pedometer during Treadmill Walking” about a study of the accuracy of the HJ-112.  The purpose of the study was “to examine the validity of step counts measured with the Omron HJ-112 pedometer and to assess the effect of pedometer placement.”

It concludes, “The Omron HJ-112 pedometer validly assesses steps in different BMI (body mass index – added by author)  groups during constant- and variable-speed walking; other than that in the pants pocket, placement of the pedometer has little effect on validity.”

The most valuable piece of information from the study was the accuracy of the placement of the pedometer.  The study found that “hip mounting produced the smallest random error (1.2%), followed by shirt pocket (1.7%), neck (2.2%), and pants pocket (5.8%).”

Lesson learned – the pants pocket is not the best place to carry a pocket pedometer.  The hip still is the best place.