FITBIT on the ankle

[DannyFB]

I am trying out my FITBIT Charge 5 for my mother who is 95 years old and therefore totally shuffles along while walking. Her arms do not move at all. Check out the next elderly person you see shuffling along. Notice their arms. The don't move. The FITBIT on her wrist doesn't register any steps at all.

So I strapped it around her ankle. It seems to be at least as accurate for steps as it is for the average person when it is on their wrist.

It seems to even register heart beat. It will take more study to see if it is reliable for that. It isn't expected to be, before anyone jumps up and points that out. As most 95 year old people her skin is extremely thin and her arteries and veins are quite close to the surface (relative).

Has anyone else had any experience with a FITBIT on an ankle?

My main goal was for sleep tracking, so the wrist works fine. But it would also be great to be able to check out how many steps she gets in a given day to make sure she isn't too sedentary.

[LZeeW · Accepted solution]

@DannyFB   Many people wear their Fitbits on their ankles, at least some of the time.  Some healthcare workers can't wear anything below the elbow at work.  Others want to run with a jogging stroller, but a Fitbit won't count steps with both hands on the stroller.  Things like that.  Some third party companies make band extenders for ankle wear, because Fitbit doesn't.

Just so you know, a new account has a 10,000 step goal by default.  Feel free to change it to something that meets her needs. 

It sounds like you understand that there are limitations by wearing a Fitbit on the ankle.  Good for you.

[DannyFB]

Awesome that I got feedback. Thanks!

I can use this when my siblings immediately give me guff when I explain
having put my FITBIT on mom's ankle.

10,000 steps: LOL. Given that if we get her to take 200 steps in a day we
are feeling good about it. Given that I'm be gone and my FITBIT also in a
week, it is currently just a trial run to see what it can give us.

The BEST part of the device was my ability to look at her sleep to see if
she was really sleeping 12 hours each night (she is). AND it indicates to
me her O2 level is rather low during her sleep which was actually no big
surprise but something nobody would otherwise be thinking about.

Hence - it will be AWESOME if I actually get what appears to be valid sleep
monitoring data metrics with it on her ankle. Then again, duh, just move it
to her wrist when she goes to bed and then to her ankle when she gets up. I
do get a good pulse reading at her ankle, it seems. I can't wait to see
what it gives me for O2 and breathing and such during her sleep (while on
her ankle).

I'll actually try to update this thread with results, since somebody is
paying attention and therefore might also be interested.

NOTE: The FITBIT device is NOT intended as a medical device. I totally
understand that and would never make medical decisions based on FITBIT.
However, I currently consider it a legit device for some rough indications
of maybe one should look closer type measurements. E.G. don't use it for
medial diagnosis but don't ignore the data (otherwise why have it?).

-danny

[Odyssey13]

Hi @DannyFB  your mom is fortunate to have you watching over them. Tell your siblings there are more ways to watch elderly parents now and you're just thinking outside the box for your mom! As long as your mom has a way to sync daily, you can log in and see her stats even when you're not in the same area. 

A few people have posted that they wore a Fitbit on the ankle and found it did well to recognize steps and fairly accurate heart rate.