ACCELERATION ON DIFFERENT BODY POSITIONS DURING RUNNING ON A TREADMILL

Abstract

Many fitness index used V˙O2max and heart rate to estimate energy expenditure, but these current methods require expensive equipment for the direct measurement. This study tried to determine a more convenient way to estimate energy expenditure by comparing the relationship of heart rate with acceleration on different positions while running on a treadmill. Eight males (23-32 yr) wore three tri-axial accelerometers, and the placements of accelerometers were left wrist, trunk (low back) and left ankle. Each participant walked for 30 sec at 4 and 6 km·h-1, ran 30 sec at 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 km·h-1 after they keep stable heart rate in these speeds. All the total accelerations on three placements are significantly correlated with heart rate in this study which indicated that accelerations on human body is a good way to estimate energy expenditure. This information is very useful to develop a new device to accurately estimate energy expenditure using watch which is more convenient compare to current devices in the market.