Fitness Trackers and Wearables

By the end of 2022, statistics project there will be 1 billion wearable devices worldwide. While there are many reasons to wear such a device, like tracking your heart rate, oxygen levels, fitness progress and sleep, the most common use is to track steps and distance. The problem, however, is that accelerometers – the device used in most pedometers to measure acceleration, is wrist-based, making the step count somewhat inaccurate for foot and ankle specific data.

Can I Multipurpose Existing Wearables and Wear on My Ankle

While most activity trackers are not designed to work strapped to your ankle, it may work for some functions. The official answer from FITBIT is that it is not designed for use on the ankle. The same goes for the Apple Watch, which is formatted for wrist-based data collection.

Accuracy = Tracking at the Ankle

Wearables like MOOV that are light weight by design (without a screen and buttons), may be useful in recovery tracking for foot-and-ankle conditions. Downsides include no heart rate tracking without pairing with a chest strap or head band.

The Upshot

If step counts and cadence are going to be paired with other health care metrics for recovery protocols, we still don't have the best solution. Sounds like opportunity.