Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

daveh0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2018
22
0
USA
Greetings - I am physically disabled (c5/6 incomplete quadriplegic for anyone curious). I spend part of my time in a wheelchair and part of my time on forearm crutches, with my current goal being to increase the latter while obviously decreasing the former... and on a broader spectrum, to drastically decrease total time sitting still.

I was super-psyched to learn about all of the effort that went into providing tracking for wheelchair users in the activity tracking app. The Move, Exercise and Stand "rings" are just what I've been looking for, but I do have a few concerns that I'm hoping someone with a situation similar to mine might have some firsthand intel to share OR someone very familiar with the inner-workings of the Activity Tracker app can help shed some light.
  1. When I'm up on my crutches, I would say it is closer to being Exercise than Standing/Moving as it is very strenuous on my crazy-weak legs and upper body as well. I'd like to be able to have it tracked as such. Is this possible, while keeping typical movements in my wheelchair classified under "Move"?

  2. I've read in various articles that most hardware/software step counters do not accurately count steps for crutch users. I did not find anything that specifically referenced the Apple watch, so I'm wondering if anyone can chime in on the accuracy issue? I don't necessarily need to know my number of steps... if total distance and/or combined elapsed time walking is more accurate, that would certainly suffice.

  3. I also hand-cycle and swim for exercise, both at a far slower pace than an able-bodied person would. Can the watch be calibrated to detect these activities and accurately track distance?

Thanks in advance for any wisdom anyone would care to impart in order to help with my buying decision.

-dave
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.