The Development of the SenseWear Armband, a Revolutionary Energy Assessment Device to Assess Physical Activity and Lifestyle

Consumers, clinicians, and researchers lack an easy-to-use, reliable and cost effi cient way to accurately assess metabolic physical activity and energy expen-diture, critical components of a variety of behavioral modifi cation programs, in-cluding disease- and weight-management. BodyMedia has addressed this need by developing the SenseWear ® Pro2 Armband which utilizes a heat fl ux sensor, galvanic skin response sensor, skin temperature sensor, nearbody temperature sensor, and a two axis-accelerometer to gather data leading to the measure-ment of energy expenditure. This paper outlines the studies that show how the SenseWear ® Pro21 provides high energy expenditure accuracy rates relative to equipment that is far more expensive, limiting, and diffi cult to use and how it is a cost effi cient and simple solution that can be applied outside the laboratory in a free-living environment to track energy expenditure, physical activity durations and levels, and lifestyle information