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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Are pedometers reliable?

    Related Topic
    Fitness and Sports Medicine
    My steps always seem to be very high? Is it affected by hip bone movement?
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    John Stevens

    Exercise Physiologist

    John is an exercise physiologist and owner of Kinetic Medicine, an Exercise Physiology practice with 5 clinics on the NSW Mid North Coast. John is … View Profile

    Generally speaking, a good quality pedometer will have a margin for error of about 5%. That is for every 10000 steps you take the reading could be out by about 500 steps, which in the scheme of things is an acceptable level of accuracy. This said, some pedometers have a switch that you can adjust for sensitivity if you consider yourself someone who takes particularly heavy steps or if, as you say, the reading seems unusually high. Pedometers produced by companies like Tanita are typically the best quality as they have been produced under testing to certify their accuracy. Be all of this as it may, if you continue to monitor your steps regardless of the actual number reading, you can still make good use of this as a tool to keep your physical activity levels consistently high enough to meet your health needs. Best of luck!

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    Tony (Anthony) Stanley

    Physiotherapist

    About:I graduated from the University of South Australia in 1997 as a mature age student. I have worked in the hospital setting until 2003. Since, … View Profile

    It depends on what you are trying to measure. Pedometers only measure how many steps you have taken, not necessarily the length of your steps or the distance that you convert. So they are not that accurate.

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