草莓污视频导航

March 6, 2019

Proper use of wearable technology is considered the 'wild, wild west'

Researcher sets new guidelines on how to properly use these data in the real world
Reed Ferber鈥檚 study is the first to set guidelines on how to properly use data from wearable technology in the real world, with the potential to help sports scientists, physiotherapists, end users and wearable technology companies alike. Photo by Adrian Shellard, for the Faculty of Kinesiology
Reed Ferber鈥檚 study is the first to set guidelines on how to properly use data from wearable technol

If you鈥檙e out sweating with your Fitbit aiming for 10,000 steps, Kinesiology鈥檚 Dr. Reed Ferber, PhD, pictured above, wants you to know you don鈥檛 need to feel guilty if you don鈥檛 hit that goal.

鈥淣obody should feel bad if they鈥檙e not achieving 10,000 steps a day,鈥 says Ferber, also a professor in the faculties of nursing and Cumming School of Medicine as well as the director of the 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Running Injury Clinic. 鈥淭here is no scientific merit for doing 10,000 steps a day. Doing 10,000 steps a day is a recommendation, and that鈥檚 it 鈥 it鈥檚 a recommendation.鈥

Ferber 鈥 senior author of a new study on wearable technology published in the , one of the world鈥檚 top sports science journals 鈥 believes fitness goals are very individual. His study is the first to set guidelines on how to properly use data from wearable technology out in the real world, with the potential to help sports scientists, physiotherapists, end users and wearable technology companies alike.

Research conducted on runners

鈥淩ight now, using wearable technology to collect scientific data out in the real world is the wild, wild west. There are no established rules,鈥 Ferber says, noting that current wearable technologies don鈥檛 provide any context to the data they collect.

Wearable technology says a few things about what you did on any given day 鈥 for example, how many steps you took and what your heart rate was 鈥 but doesn鈥檛 explain what the data actually means. 鈥淚t forces you to draw conclusions about how you did.鈥

In his research, conducted last summer, Ferber wanted to find out how many runs it would take to determine a 鈥榯ypical鈥 run for individual runners. In his study, which followed 12 recreational runners doing 10 runs each as part of 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Marathon Training Program, he found that runners need to include data from at least five runs to better understand how they鈥檙e doing.

Kinesiology student Teague Foreman reviews the data.

Kinesiology student Teague Foreman reviews the data.

Riley Brandt, 草莓污视频导航

New information for wearable tech companies

鈥淚t empowers people to figure out, 鈥楾his is my average.鈥 Individual users can use this approach to take any five days鈥 worth of data, average it out and say, 鈥楾his is what represents me.鈥 We are providing guidelines for the research community and for the end users of wearable technologies. And we would also like to see wearable tech companies use our research to change the way they provide data, in a way that鈥檚 more useful to their users,鈥 Ferber says.

These guidelines are a platform for Ferber and his research team to move forward this spring with new research on injury prediction. 鈥淥nce we have established what someone鈥檚 typical pattern is, we can use it to predict injury. If we know you are well outside the typical way you run, you might be on the verge of an injury,鈥 explains Ferber, who hopes to enrol hundreds of runners in this research.

Prediction to protect injuries in many sports

The researchers will collect data to determine runners鈥 individual 鈥榞reen zones鈥 鈥 the typical way they run. They will then use that data to determine whether they can predict if runners are about to become injured, before they feel pain, and helping them make adjustments to prevent an injury from actually occurring.  

This research applies to anyone who鈥檚 using a wearable fitness device of some type  鈥 everyone from runners to mall walkers, cyclists, swimmers and others, Ferber says.

It means that athletes and anyone who is physically active will get more meaningful data to help them make informed choices, notes Colleen Parsons, former head coach of the 草莓污视频导航 Marathon Program. 鈥淚 think there is huge potential, down the road, to be able to take all this data, boil it down for the average person to understand and get some useful information out of it,鈥 she says.

Kinesiology student Lindsey Agnew uses wearable technology.

Kinesiology student Lindsey Agnew uses wearable technology.

Riley Brandt, 草莓污视频导航

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Ferber鈥檚 research is part of the NSERC Wearable Technology Research and Collaboration (We-TRAC) Training Program. We-TRAC aims to train the next generation of wearable technology experts through cross-training in biomechanics, data science, and entrepreneurship and is Canada鈥檚 first degree specialization in wearable technology.

Reed Ferber is the senior author of , which is published in the Journal of Biomechanics and written by lead author Dr. Lauren Benson and co-authors Drs. Nizam Ahamed and Dylan Kobsar, who are all postdoctoral research fellows in Ferber鈥檚 lab.