Fitbit monitoring wheelchair use

[kieran86uk]

I am a new user of FitBit, bought my Blue on Friday and it's been giving me some really interesting information.

I am disabled, I use a wheelchair when I go outdoors, simply because it would take me forever just to get anywhere if I walked. I have severe hip problems that prevent me from walking, and at the moment, living a normal life. It is becoming harder and harder to get out at the moment as I am currently fighting with my Health Service to get listened to when I tell them I need total hip replacement for the left and right.

But anyway, that's enough information on me. Hello everybody. 

I was wondering about my situation and being a wheelchair user and also a fitness tracker, sounds a little bit counter-productive, but I was wondering if wheelchair use could be added into a future edition of FitBit, it would appeal to a wider range of customers, and would certainly appeal to me, and give me a more accurate reading instead of it monitoring my use as an 'outdoor bike' - I was happy it recognised I was doing something, but shame about the type of activity being wrong. 

Would this be something that other people may be interested in? I understand it would have absolutely no use for the majority of people, granted, but let me tell you this - this disability I now have crept up on me very suddenly and you never know when you're going to end up in a wheelchair. It took 14 months from the start of my condition to it being necessary for me to use one. So you never know when you might need to use this function. 

Thanks for reading, I'm hoping somebody might like this idea and put it forward to the big bosses. Here's hoping anyway 😄 

[WendyB]

Welcome to the forums!

There are a couple request for this in the features forum. Developers look there for new ideas. 

Please go vote and add your comments. Hopefully it will get added.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Wheelchair-use/idi-p/855572

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/New-features-for-disabled-users/idi-p/1890096

Hope to see you around the forums! Join in on the discussions forums!

[BreWil]

Hi Kieran-- I am so hoping that FitBit realizes that there are many of us who are legally and physically disabled but are still trying to maintain some sort of health and wellness; regardless! I was diagnosed with multiple overlapping autoimmune diseases September 2000 but I still push myself (on days when I can) to be as active as possible in some way. 

I have been wanting to see a specific category on the community forums for DisAbility or DisAbled. I feel the need is there, may be minimal to start with, but it's there. Also I feel it's discriminatory not to even offer something for those of us who struggle with some type of disability. 

Hoping they see the need just as we do!

Wishing you only the best. 

BreWil

[WavyDavey]

I'm curious as to what "wheelchair use" for Fitbit would look like?

Someone should test out one of the existing trackers with a fitbit. Since the tracker determines steps by arm swing, it's possible that in a mechanical wheelchair that the arm motion might actually count steps. If you get a model with heart rate monitoring, it's going to know how many calories you're burning.

@BreWil, sorry you feel that way. Word to the wise, be careful using the word discrimination. There's a specific legal definition for it, so it's not something to throw around.

[BreWil]

@WavyDavey

"@BreWil, sorry you feel that way. Word to the wise, be careful using the word discrimination. There's a specific legal definition for it, so it's not something to throw around."

Hi Dave--

I am completely concerned but confused by your comment or reply.

Sorry that I feel what way? Please elaborate. 

I wasn't 'throwing' anything around, I don't know what you mean. I was simply stating a fact and making a suggestion. 

And as far as using the word discrimination I completely understand what it means and as far as the legal definition I fit both legally and physically so what are you saying?

All I was doing was making a suggestion. As it would be greatly appreciated if those of us who are disabled or challenged in some way had a specific category for the community forums to be able to offer support and help for each other… nothing more nothing less.

Please explain as I am anxiously awaiting your response and thanking you in advance!

- BreWil 

[WavyDavey]

---

@BreWil wrote:

@WavyDavey

"@BreWil, sorry you feel that way. Word to the wise, be careful using the word discrimination. There's a specific legal definition for it, so it's not something to throw around."

Hi Dave--

I am completely concerned but confused by your comment or reply.

Sorry that I feel what way? Please elaborate. 

I wasn't 'throwing' anything around, I don't know what you mean. I was simply stating a fact and making a suggestion. 

And as far as using the word discrimination I completely understand what it means and as far as the legal definition I fit both legally and physically so what are you saying?

All I was doing was making a suggestion. As it would be greatly appreciated if those of us who are disabled or challenged in some way had a specific category for the community forums to be able to offer support and help for each other… nothing more nothing less.

Please explain as I am anxiously awaiting your response and thanking you in advance!

- BreWil 

---

Sorry that you feel discriminated against. Fitbit offers the same forum services to all. Disabled or no, we can post here. No one is barred. If you search, there are a number of threads discussing disabled use of Fitbits. Suggesting a dedicated board for the disabled is an interesting idea, but saying that the lack of it is discrimination is another thing altogether.

[w00hoo]

I'm in a  similar boat to you, only I went from walking to disabled in 5 hours through some sort of immune disease they haven't diagnosed yet. I went from being an active and fairly data heavy cyclist (150 mile days, 100+ miles commuting every week) and the fittest I'd ever been to being told my most likely long term prognosis is life in a wheelchair. I've put back all the weight I'd worked hard to lose and am currently 14 months in hospital, so I urge against complacency.

Anyway, there are some threads on here I've found about wheelchair use and it sounds like the way the Fitbit measures can be configured to give reasonable data for comparison if not accurate data on actual exercise.

I agree a dedicated area of the forum might make sense (even if just in a marketing sense) because there is a bit of talk out there about fitness trackers and disabilities but again it all seems to have quietened down over the last few years.

Personally, as a non-owner and from various pre-disability days a fairly committed Garmin fanboi, I'd be interested in what would be the best way for me to enter the Fitbit market, I need something that makes sense with wheelchair use and may also transfer to hand bike use in the future. Although wheelchair is the biggie. What do those in the know suggest, with Christmas coming up?

[WavyDavey]

---

@w00hoo wrote:

I'm in a  similar boat to you, only I went from walking to disabled in 5 hours through some sort of immune disease they haven't diagnosed yet. I went from being an active and fairly data heavy cyclist (150 mile days, 100+ miles commuting every week) and the fittest I'd ever been to being told my most likely long term prognosis is life in a wheelchair. I've put back all the weight I'd worked hard to lose and am currently 14 months in hospital, so I urge against complacency.

Anyway, there are some threads on here I've found about wheelchair use and it sounds like the way the Fitbit measures can be configured to give reasonable data for comparison if not accurate data on actual exercise.

I agree a dedicated area of the forum might make sense (even if just in a marketing sense) because there is a bit of talk out there about fitness trackers and disabilities but again it all seems to have quietened down over the last few years.

Personally, as a non-owner and from various pre-disability days a fairly committed Garmin fanboi, I'd be interested in what would be the best way for me to enter the Fitbit market, I need something that makes sense with wheelchair use and may also transfer to hand bike use in the future. Although wheelchair is the biggie. What do those in the know suggest, with Christmas coming up?

---

Since you have experience with fitness trackers before, I'd suggest the Charge 2. It has exercise modes on the tracker itself you manually start/stop-- and you could experiment with using them with a wheelchair to decide which fits you best. In this situation, I wouldn't recommend a tracker that relies solely on automatically detected exercise, as you're going to want to experiment with the different modes. I would try Workout mode first. It's a good catch-all for various exercise.

You can also log the wheelchair activity manually later at the web dashboard on fitbit.com.

 I would probably get a heart rate monitoring model (Charge 2 has this), so it can calculate your level of exertion and let you know how many calories you're burning. This is measured as Active Minutes, and is what I go by for the most part. It's helpful when trying to lose or manage weight.

Many people like to track steps, which of course presents challenges with a wheelchair. I'm not sure how a fitbit will handle that, which is why I like the Charge 2 for this, because it gets you lots of options for tracking. If you take a phone with you, the Charge 2 can use the phone's GPS to give you precise distance measurements and a map of the route.

You can set daily goals for all these things (calories burned/distance/exercise per week/active minutes), and as you graduate to the hand-bike, you can raise or lower the goals if needed.

Hope this gives you some ideas. 

[BreWil]

Hi Dave--

First I want to apologize for such an untimely response due to multiple unforeseen unexpected medical issues. 

However I feel there has been absolutely entirely too much emphasis placed upon the  'discrimination or discriminatory' part of my original comment. I am one of the most positive people you will ever happen upon prior to my disability as well as during and  after I maintain a positive attitude towards life and all that it entails. 

Basically my original comment was merely a suggestion for a 'Disabled or Physically Challenged' dedicated board in the Community Forums. You made reference in an earlier response to search for it as there's numerous threads discussing disability. So I feel the need is there and definitely some merit to my suggestion for adding this as an option. 

Once again I would like for you (as well as others who might read this) to know I wasn't suggesting that I was being discriminated against at all. One would think that by this day in time and the numerous obstacles those of us who are disabled have overcome there would already be a dedicated board in place for us. I was very surprised and taken aback to see there wasn't anything as of yet. 

So in ending I am hoping it is crystal clear I had an idea and was merely making a suggestion to help those of us who are disabled who try to maintain some type of physical activity to have a place to go share our challenges and concerns to offer support and helpful advice for  each other -- nothing more nothing less. 

Hopefully this clears up any misconceptions or misunderstandings and we can move forward together peacefully. 

Sincerely,

BreWil

[BreWil]

Hi there--

I so appreciate your response regarding the need for a dedicated 'Disabled or Physically Challenged' board on the Community Forum. The need is definitely there. 

Dave gave some really helpful advice and I agree with the things he shared. The device I am using is the Change 2 and I have been happy with the results from using it. 

Stay positive and hopefully things will continue to progress for us.

Wishing you only the best,

BreWil 

[w00hoo]

I am in the position where I am new to being disabled with a current long term prognosis of life in a chair, but I'm still in hospital having been here for over a year while they try and work out what I've got. The damage is upper spinal cord probably broken, it happened last September 2016 so isn't healing if it was bruised. There is never a good time for this to happen, but it concided with me being the fittest I'd eve been, I'd dropped from 125kg to 80kg through taking up cycling anplus watching my diet and was generally trim and thin. I've put pretty much all that weight back on  by being inactive in a hospital bed.

My intention is to get fit again once I am back in a home environment, probably not the one I left as it isn't wheelchair accesible and having come to slowly accept this I started looking at data options as training with data massively influenced my biking days, which brought mee to fitbit as there was a lot of chatter relatuve to other options.

As I have said, unfortunatelya lot of the chatter is relatlatively old in internet/technology terms and as a newcomer it would have been useful to know th pro's and con's of the current crop,  and maybe get a feel for the companies commitment to that particular aspect. Considering its specialist nature, as mentioned a specific area would make a big difference in allowing you to look at people solving or living with the relevant issues.

As it is, my dalliance with fitbit has led me to the probable conclusion that modifying my bike Garmin use would probably be more sensible, it's created with the concept of person operating vehicle from the ground up. Cadence monitoring probably maps better than steps for pushes and the addition of gradient monitoring from the GPS probably makes a lot more sense for difficulty of routes. Naturally as a new buy it'd be a big financial difference, but I already own a lot of the kit, including HR monitor so it just comes down to mounting issues. The actual community around disabled Garmin use is non=existent, which is a shame and could have swayed me to fitbit use but it's not huge here either and I'm hoping there is a random fitness in wheelchairs community that I just haven't come across yet.

As I have said, I think fitbit potentially has a good product to help people, especially given the use all the time functionality that their device has over the more specific use of the Garmin, but as someone investigating the options, the enthusiasm for using the product in this way just doesn't seem to exist. Which is a shame. I will keep an eye on how/if things develop, but I think my money and time is likely to go in other directions.

[JBeards935]

I would love it if there was a Fitbit edition developed for a disabled person. I use a wheelchair part time for long distances, but I also have a handcycle that I use regularly in races. I have a Fitbit HR and it does calculation my "steps" when I use my handcycle or train on the stationary one at the gym, but it would be great if it could be more accurate for my level and type of activity. 

[JBeards935]

I would love it if there was a Fit bit edition developed for a disabled person. I use a wheelchair part time for long distances, but I also have a hand cycle that I use regularly in races. I have a Fit bit HR and it does calculation my "steps" when I use my hand cycle or train on the stationary one at the gym, but it would be great if it could be more accurate for my level and type of activity. 

[JAMIE9999]

Im late to the party but i did see a thing that said 20minutes of average wheelchair push is equal to 2000 steps