Validation of Using Smartphone Built-In Accelerometers to Estimate the Active Energy Expenditures of Full-Time Manual Wheelchair Users with Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the validity of using built-in smartphone accelerometers to estimate the active energy expenditures of full-time manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI). Twenty participants with complete SCI completed 10 5-min daily activities that involved the upper limbs, during which their oxygen consumption and upper limb activity were registered using a portable gas analyzer and a smartphone (placed on the non-dominant arm), respectively. Time series of 1-min averaged oxygen consumption and 55 accelerometer variables (13 variables for each of the four axes and three additional variables for the correlations between axes) were used to estimate three multiple linear models, using a 10-fold cross-validation method. The results showed that models that included either all variables and models or that only included the linear variables showed comparable performance, with a correlation of 0.72. Slightly worse general performance was demonstrated by the model that only included non-linear variables, although it proved to be more accurate at estimating the energy expenditures (EE) during specific tasks. These results suggest that smartphones could be a promising low-cost alternative to laboratory-grade accelerometers to estimate the energy expenditure of wheelchair users with spinal cord injury during daily activities.

Measurement Performance of Activity Measurements with Newer Generation of Apple Watch in Wheelchair Users with Spinal Cord Injury

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“…All PA is recorded on the smartphone using the device’s triaxial accelerometer. The number of minutes of PA performed at a moderate/vigorous intensity is calculated by the equation proposed in Marco-Ahulló et al [ 26 ].…”

Community mobility and participation assessment of manual wheelchair users: a review of current techniques and challenges

“…Phone apps have already been used by MacGillivray et al (2019) in their 2019 feasibility study to allow SCI patients to self-manage their rehabilitation and discharge. Another study by Marco-Ahulló et al (2021) also used phone apps to track the energy expenditure of their 12 SCI patients. Clearly, apps have potential in rehabilitation applications.…”