Measurement of Physical Activity

The course focuses on different methods for measuring physical activity. The course will provide an introduction to the use of self reporting and body sensors to measure physical activity in different populations such as elderly, children, patient groups and athletes. Furthermore the focus will be on new uses for sensor technology i.e. indentification of various types of activity, activity patterns, energy consumption and fields measurements in large populations. Exercises and demonstrations will be used to illustrate the use of the different measurement methods and data analysis.

Knowledge 

• Describe different methods for measuring physical activity
• Explain how different types of portable sensors work and what they measure

Skill

• Apply different methods to estimate the level of physical activity
• Interpret and report different types of measurements of physical activity
• Assess the advantages and disadvantages of the use of various instruments for measuring physical activity in different populations

General competence

• Presenting both oral and written (report) own work.
• Describe the usual structure of a scientific article (IMRaD principle)
• Reflect on ethical issues related to the use of portable technology

Up to 40 hours of lectures, assignments and group work