Fitness tracker to monitor sports fitness, is it really effective?

What is the function of a fitness tracker?

The main function of a fitness tracker is to record the user's physical activity along with other data related to their activity level - such as the number of calories burned, heart rate, intensity, speed, duration and distance traveled while walking or running, altitude while climbing, to nighttime sleep patterns. This tool helps the wearer to achieve optimal physical activity for body fitness.

Fitness tracker works by detecting motion. All of this information is collected and processed after being compared with personal data such as height, weight, age, and gender of the user, to create an overall reading result. The more sensors your tracker has, the more accurate it claims to be.

Is using a fitness tracker while exercising really effective?

The effectiveness of a fitness tracker for tracking fitness during exercise will depend a lot on the type of equipment you use, and the results are often subtle. A study led by dr. Marc Gillinov, a cardiac surgeon from the Cleveland Clinic, is trying to test different types of exercise tracking devices. As a result, the heart rate calculations tracked by the fitness tracker are not always accurate.

Some heart rate monitors on fitness trackers that are worn on the wrist are more accurate than those worn on the upper arm or just in a pocket. The researchers found that the heart rate readings from the chest strap fitness tracker were the most accurate of all the types studied.

Another 2013 study found that trackers attached to shoes were much more efficient than those worn on the hips. A 2014 study at Iowa State University found fitness trackers were not very accurate at measuring calories burned. The researchers tested eight different tracker models, and showed that the percentage of error data could range from 9 to 23.5 percent. This can have a significant impact on achieving health goals.

Reporting from Detik, Dr. Mitesh Patel from Medicine and Healthcare Management at the University of Pennsylvania, the benefits of a fitness tracker can only be learned by people who from the start have been motivated to exercise actively to maintain body fitness. The reason is that they are better able to understand what the numbers mean and how to act on them appropriately.

But if you use the tracker just for curiosity, or rather as a style but not treated with real action, that data may not be of much use.

If you know how to use them effectively, a fitness tracker can save lives

But who would have thought that even though it was considered not very useful, a fitness tracker could save lives. This is what happened to Patricia Lauder, a 73-year-old retiree from Connecticut. Lauder uses a fitness tracker for her daily routine, and suspects something is wrong when it displays a resting heart reading of 140 beats per minute. In general, the normal resting heart rate for adults 18 years and over is between 60 and 100 beats per minute.

Previously, Lauder often complained about gasping for breath and heartbeat even when she was lying down, but did not know what caused it. Thanks to the data stored by her tracker, Lauder realized that her heart rate was continuously increasing abnormally, from an average of 60-70 beats per minute to more than 100. Lauder then decided to get emergency medical help quickly.

After examining the evidence of Lauder's fitness tracker data records and running a series of medical tests, the hospital found that Lauder had blood clots in both of her lungs, aka pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism is a medical emergency that can be fatal if not treated quickly.

The Patricia Lauder case above is unique. However, Gillinov still advises tracker users not to panic quickly if they get a heart rate reading that seems too high or too low because "electronic devices can still go wrong," he said.

"There is little evidence to confirm that recording your heart rate every minute when you are not exercising can have any health benefits," said Clinton Brawner, clinical physiologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, quoted from Live Science.

What kind of fitness trackers are most effective?

Knowing your heart rate can be useful when you exercise, as it will help you know if your training is intense enough to provide health benefits, but not so much that it can cause health problems (even death from cardiac arrest), says Dr. James Borchers, a sports medicine doctor at Ohio State University's Wexner Hospital.

This safe heart rate zone is known as the “target zone,” ie your heart rate has to be at least a 60 to 80 percent increase in your maximum heart rate for your cardio training to pay off.

"If you absolutely have to know your heart rate accurately - whether it's for health or exercise - a chest strap fitness tracker equipped with electrodes is the best choice," says Gillinov.