I am afraid that I have to respectfully disagree with @WendyB on this one! The wrist models do not require arm swinging. I have confirmed this myself over several years and many different Fitbit wrist trackers; I have a very bad habit of walking with my arms in my pockets and I almost NEVER swing my arms when I walk... yet all my wrist trackers count my steps just fine.
All Fitbits use a 3-axis accelerometer and a computer program to process the data. The aim is to capture and analyse body movements and vibrations that seem SIMILAR to walking. Sometimes the accelerometers and the program gets it wrong: people sometimes report that they get steps while brushing their teeth but miss steps when holding on to a grocery cart (though I suspect the latter is NOT because the arms aren't swinging, but because the cart is absorbing the vibrations from the body).
I am pretty sure that the same accelerometers are used on the body worn devices as on the wrist ones -- it is just the computer program that processes the data that is different (and that may be where hand swinging comes in to play -- if it detects a certain kind of arm swinging it will count steps -- but it will also count steps even if it doesn't see arm swinging, as long as it sees other STEP-LIKE MOTIONS).
That is why official Fitbit advice is that if you have a tracker designed to be worn on the wrist, and for whatever reason you cannot wear your tracker on your wrist, you can tuck it into your pocket, and it will still count steps. That could NOT be true if arm swinging were required.
I expect a treadmill desk is even more challenging for the Fitbit to track than a regular treadmill (where the walking motion is more natural), but my advice would be to try slipping your Ionic in your pocket and see if you get a better count of your steps that way. Of course, you will lose many of the aspects of a smartwatch, but it will be an interesting experiment, I know of someone who uses a (body worn) Fitbit One (sadly now discontinued) with a treadmill desk and gets good results. As mentioned above, you may not get perfect results from the Ionic this way, but it is possible that it may actually work better in this circumstance on your body than on your wrist.
As Wendy mentioned, your distance is unlikely to be accurate unless you radically adjust your stride; however distance calculated is entirely separate from step count (which I think is what you were asking about).
It would be interesting to hear your results on a treadmill desk with the Ionic in your pocket, if that would be an acceptable way for you to wear it.
An alternative solution, if you find wearing it in your pocket doesn't work, or if you would miss the wrist features too much, would be if you could get hold of a Fitbit One (not easy). Although Fitbit advises against wearing two trackers at the same time, I have tested this with a One and a wrist worn tracker, and they definitely work together (and I know others who have confirmed this). The One would gather your desk treadmill steps that your Ionic worn on your wrist seems to be missing (according to my friend who uses a One with his treadmill desk), and the Ionic on your wrist would give you the other features. The Fitbit Zip is another body worn tracker that IS still available. I have not heard anyone confirm whether or not it plays nicely with other trackers, but I think there is a chance it might, so that also could be a combination to try.
Thanks for a very interesting question and apologies for such a long-winded answer!
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