Walk/pushing my husband's wheelchair

[LisefromCanada]

I went for a 1 hour walk today, pushing my husband in his wheelchair.  I was surprised to see my fitbit record this as riding a bike.  And my steps recorded therefore were much less than what I actually walked and pushed.  It is much harder to walk pushing an adult in a wheelchair, then it is walking freely or riding a bike for the same distance.  Anyone know how to get the fitbit to record this properly?  I use the Fitbit Charge HR.

[WavyDavey · Accepted solution]

Hi @LisefromCanada,

What you say makes sense. Fitbit uses movement and the natural arm swing we do when walking to establish that a walk is happening. Pushing a cart or wheelchair takes the arm swing out of it. Still you were moving, so it assumed you were bike riding.

You can try putting the Fitbit in your pocket and see if the step count is more accurate. Some folks go to the trouble of getting a large band or band extender, and wearing it on their ankle.

[Vleugels]

If you go for a long walk, you could use the GPS track function. I believe it then counts the steps based on the length of the walk.

[Dominique]

@LisefromCanada: I know Fitbit started as a pedometer, i.e. a step counter, but there’s far more than steps in it nowadays. I’m sure your Charge HR is crediting you with more calories burned and possibly active minutes when pushing your husband’s wheelchair compared to walking freely, as it likely detects the extra effort involved via the higher HR. I understand steps are still important, as they’re they basis for challenges, for instance, but you should look at all the other metrics too.

As to @Vleugels’s suggestion to use GPS: first of all, I’m not sure Charge HR supports the feature (at least, it’s not mentioned in this help article). Secondly, even if it supported it (it would require you to have your phone set up to share its GPS with it), the benefit of GPS would be to get a better estimate of the distance (without GPS, distance is step count times average stride length). I don’t believe Fitbit would "back-calculate" step count as GPS distance divided by stride length.

The few steps "lost" while performing some activities may not have a significant impact at the daily/weekly level, and they may be offset by other activities that produce "fake" steps due to hand moves (many household tasks fall in this category).

[TxCatLady52]

Hello, 

I was just wondering if there were any wheelchair folks here. I was born with spina bifida, paralyzed from the waist down. I get around in a manual wheelchair. I retired late last year and then got really sick earlier this year. I've been gaining back strength. 

I do have activity, exercise and food goals, but I also want to show that my lifestyle is sedentary. I thought I saw that somewhere in the guide but can't find it now. Thanks

[lnconley]

I had a stroke about 4 years ago and I’m not walking yet. I won a Fitbit charge 5 at a church function last week. I was wondering if there was a way to track my wheelchair activity using my Fitbit 5.