Wheelchair User - push/step counting

[wheeliegirl95]

I just got my Fitbit InspireHR today, and am so far mostly liking it. However, I'm wondering if there's any particular way to set it up for me, as a wheelchair user. It seems to count basically any arm movement as a "step". When I was doing laundry, it counted those movements as "steps". As in, I got about 30 steps in without even moving a foot.... 

Is there a way to somehow make it more accurate in that regard? I'd love to have a more accurate way to count that. Obviously, I'm not taking actual steps, but maybe have the alternative be counting how many times I push on my wheels to move? Not sure if that would be possible, but I'm just curious how that could work, maybe.. 

[BBurgDave]

If you separate the two problems, perhaps you could calibrate the "stride" distance when in the wheel chair to account for distance traveled (on average) by the wheel chair for every arm movement.  You'd have to push the wheel chair over a known distance and count arm movements to do this (assuming you are somewhat consistent on that).  \

I have no ideas on the other issue though, other than putting it on a clip, or moving it to a pocket, while you are doing laundry.

[LZeeW]

Hello @wheeliegirl95 and welcome to the forums.  All wrist trackers have the same down side, that is, they will always pick up certain arm movements as steps.  But if the following applies to you, you can reduce the number of extra steps.  If you wear your Inspire HR on your non-dominant wrist, change the setting in your app to Dominant.  This changes the sensitivity of the tracker.  This change should reduce, but not eliminate extra steps.  Then I think your tracker step count will more accurately reflect your push count.  It sounds like this is the "count" you are looking for.

[wheeliegirl95]

Thank you both for your suggestions! I've just now changed the settings for the dominant/non dominant hand. When I've got a bit more time, I'll figure out stride distance and mess around with that one. Thanks! 

[BBurgDave]

Actually, as I think about this more, the count that really matters is the amount of steps the fitbit records for your arm movements over that distance, which might or might not be the same as your actual number of arm movements.   So, basically, you want to divide distance traveled by recorded steps to get stride length, the same as you would do for walking.  

[MattFitbit]

@wheeliegirl95 Welcome to the Fitbit community! That is a great question. 

When working at a desk, cooking, or performing other activities with arm movements, a device on your wrist may add some steps. For most customers, the number of extra steps added by arm-based movement isn’t significant when compared to your overall stats.

I thought it might also be useful to provide some context on how Fitbit trackers record steps, here. 

Looks like there were some great tips provided by @BBurgDave and @LZeeW. Feel free to let me know how it goes. 

[ProfessorX161]

Hi my name is Herman. I am also a wheelchair user. I was considering purchasing the Inspire HR or the Charge 3 is the Inspire Bright enough in sunlight? While pushing is it easy to function? Have you used a Charge 3 to compare the two? Thanks in advance