The ability of the sensewear armband to assess a change in energy expenditure in children while sitting and standing Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Increasing physical activity levels of children in school has become a primary method of combating the growing trend of childhood obesity. As part of a large field trial that is currently seeking to evaluate the impact of the stand-biased desk on children's energy expenditure in school, this study first evaluated the degree to which the SenseWear Armband measures a change in energy expenditure in children while sitting and standing at a desk in a controlled laboratory environment. If the device is found sensitive enough to detect differences in the laboratory, the research team plans to use it in the larger school study. This study was conducted with 21 children between 7 and 10 yrs of age. The children wore the SenseWear Armband while sitting at a traditional desk and while standing at a height-adjusted standing desk with footrest for 30 min each. The mean energy expenditure for sitting was 0.63 kcalmin-1, ranging from 0.39-1.08. The mean energy expenditure for standing was 0.71 kcalmin-1 (range = 0.40 to 1.10). Paired comparisons indicated that the average energy expenditure was significantly higher when the subjects were standing versus sitting (P<0.0001). Therefore, we concluded that the SenseWear Armband is sensitive enough to detect changes in energy expenditure in children 7 to 10 yrs of age while sitting and standing. The use of the SenseWear Armband to assess slight changes in energy expenditure in children is both practical and sensitive.

published proceedings

  • Journal of Exercise Physiology Online

author list (cited authors)

  • Benden, M. E., Mancuso, L., Hongweizhao, .., & Pickens, A.

complete list of authors

  • Benden, ME||Mancuso, L||Pickens, A

publication date

  • June 2011