Treadmill gait speeds correlate with physical activity counts measured by cell phone accelerometers

Highlights ► Trial primary outcome was to determine if measurements from cell phone accelerometers correlated with treadmill walking speed. ► Trial secondary outcome was to determine if the location where the subject kept the cell phone (ankle, hip, wrist, etc. ) affected the results. ► Enrollment: 17 young (age 19–35), 19 middle-aged (36–65), 17 aged (66+) community dwelling, independent adults with no functional gait deficits. ► Physical activity counts derived from cell phone accelerometer strongly correlated with gait speed. ► The hip was the best location to place the cell phone; however, all positions yielded suitable models.