low HR on ankle?

[qasw]

I stopped wearing my Fitbit on my wrist when boxing as it was causing me elbow pain interestingly. 

So I switched to my ankle, it seems to be under-reporting my peak HR by 20-30bpm consistently based on my previous work outs, but I dont have elbow pain any more !

Does anyone else find this?

[Odyssey13]

Hi @qasw  the heart rate works best, as Fitbit intended it to do, on your wrist. Not sure how you can resolve this other than to try adding 20 or 30 bpm to whatever it shows.

[qasw]

there have been a lot of posts with people saying their HR measurement is the same on their ankle or wrist - I was curious.....to me it looks way too low.

[Odyssey13]

@qasw  some people wear it on the ankle as they can't wear anything on their wrists while at work. Fitbit tested these to work on the wrist, not the ankle. My nurse practitioner always checks my wrist for heart rate, not my ankle.

[JuanFitbit]

Hi @Odyssey13 , thank you for your information and for you help . 

@qasw , a warm welcome to the Community! Thank you for your information. I just wanted to jump in and clarify something! In order for the heart rate to be measured you need a blood vessel (artery or vein) to be reached by the LED light on your tracker. Normally and for accuracy, medical staff and most of the devices use the wristband to measure it, as the blood vessel here are more prominent.

It's true that you'll find blood vessels on the ankle but the position of them might not be ideal for the LED to track them, because of the design of the tracker. 

As mentioned by Odyssey13. the tracker was designed and tested to be worn on the wrist. That is why we cannot warranty that the measurements, when wearing on the ankle, would be accurate, if tracked at all.

I took the liberty and contacted Support regarding your wrist pain, while wearing the Charge 3. You'll be receiving an email very soon. 

Please keep us posted