In healthy older adults, 10 days of bed rest results in a substantial loss of lower extremity strength, power, and aerobic capacity, and a reduction in physical activity, but has no effect on physical performance. Identification of interventions to maintain muscle function during hospitalization or periods of bed rest in older adults should be a high priority.

Technological and societal changes have impacted the types of physical activities performed by U.S. youth. These data are helpful in understanding the factors associated with the rise in obesity, and in proposing potential solutions.

The current method allows researchers to obtain more detailed information on postural allocation compared with that in the use of a single activPAL on the thigh.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether the published left-wrist cut-points for the triaxial GENEA accelerometer, are accurate for predicting intensity categories during structured activity bouts. Methods A convenience sample of 130 adults wore a GENEA accelerometer on their left wrist while performing 14 different lifestyle activities. During each activity, oxygen consumption was continuously measured using the Oxycon mobile. Statistical analysis used Spearman's rank correlations to determine the relationship between measured and estimated intensity classifications. Cross tabulation tables were constructed to show under- or over-estimation of misclassified intensities. One-way chi-square tests were used to determine whether the intensity classification accuracy for each activity differed from 80%. Results For all activities the GENEA accelerometer-based physical activity monitor explained 41.1% of the variance in energy expenditure. The intensity classification accuracy was 69.8% for sedentary activities, 44.9% for light activities, 46.2% for moderate activities, and 77.7% for vigorous activities. The GENEA correctly classified intensity for 52.9% of observations when all activities were examined; this increased to 61.5% with stationary cycling removed. Conclusion A wrist-worn triaxial accelerometer has modest intensity classification accuracy across a broad range of activities, when using the cut-points of Esliger et al. Although the sensitivity and specificity are less than those reported by Esliger et al., they are generally in the same range as those reported for waist-worn, uniaxial accelerometer cut-points.

HighlightsWalking during pregnancy provides several health benefits to both mother and child.Walking appears resistant to many barriers that impede other physical activity modalities during pregnancy.Walking interventions may increase physical activity behavior among pregnant women.Developing valid methods to measure walking and activity among pregnant women is crucial to increasing their physical activity.Though they are desperately needed, few pregnancy-focused walking initiatives exist.