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

Speirs, Craig; Dunlop, Mark D.; Dunlop, Mark D; Roper, Marc; Granat, Malcolm

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.

Citation

Speirs, C., Dunlop, M. D., Dunlop, M. D., Roper, M., & Granat, M. (2023). Beyond the Clinic: Maximum Free-Living Stepping as a Potential Measure of Physical Performance. Sensors, 23(14), 6555. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23146555

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 7, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 20, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 20, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 24, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 26, 2023
• Journal: Sensors
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 14
• Pages: 6555
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s23146555
• Keywords: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Biochemistry, Instrumentation, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Analytical Chemistry