And there is no better way to keep track of all those steps and stir up interest and excitement in a walking program than through the use of pedometers for program participants.

For instance, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) for it's "Get Moving Kentucky!" is using pedometers for its pilot project for worksite wellness in state government. Teams of CHFS employees will use pedometers to record their physical activity over an 8-week period with the goal of taking enough steps to walk across Kentucky.

Small, achievable goals may be more effective in helping sedentary adults maintain fitness programs than more challenging goals, according to results of a study of sedentary adults who set varying levels of fitness goals for an eight-week period.

The study results were presented during the 52nd American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Annual Meeting.

Seventy-eight people were involved in the study: 48 women and 30 men, ranging in age from 30 to 58. All were inactive when they began the study. At the start of the research project, participants wore pedometers to measure the number of steps they took each day. This gave researchers a baseline number for each participant, which was an average of 5,510 steps per day.

Participants in the study were then randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was given a goal of 10,000 steps a day. The other group was given a goal of increasing the number of daily steps by 2,500 over their baseline. A control group was also measured at the start of the study, but not given a goal to increase steps.

At the end of the eight-week study, both groups with goals to increase steps showed significant improvement in daily activity, as compared to the control group, which had no significant increase in activity. Those who set a goal of 10,000 steps per day averaged an increase of 3,036 steps over their baseline. Those with a goal of adding 2,500 steps had an increase of 2,879 steps each day.

Wearing A Pedometer Is Simple

Researchers conducted a study at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, Wis., on the health benefits of wearing a pedometer. Female employees at a large health care facility were encouraged to wear pedometers and to walk 10,000 steps daily throughout an eight-week period.

Results showed that wearing a pedometer was a simple, non-invasive way for these women to increase awareness of their daily activity and improve their overall fitness level. In fact, a majority of those who participated in the project reported that they would continue wearing a pedometer after the study was complete.

"The research showed that a simple activity like wearing a pedometer to count your steps is an effective method of maintaining activity awareness and can help you set and keep your activity goals," the researchers said.

Even members of an Amish community of adults in a southern Ontario farming community wore pedometers and logged their physical activities for seven days. The conservative Amish, known for living without modern technology and conveniences, utilize 19th century farming techniques that require physical labor.

The study was designed to use very accurate, recently developed measurement methods to assess the actual physical activity levels of the study participants to determine how the influence of technology affects physical activity levels in modern society.

A very high level of physical activity is integrated into the daily lives of the Amish, the results of the study found. Amish men, who mostly work as farmers, reported an average of 10 hours of vigorous work per week and took an average of 18,425 steps a day.

One man recorded more than 51,000 steps in a single day by walking behind a team of horses while farming.

Pedometers has also been the subject of conversation among members of the Wellness Manager Discussion Group, sponsored by Wellness Program Management Advisor and WellnessJunction.com

Following are some tips from Group members' comments about pedometers:

• "It's helpful to get straps to go with the pedometers right away ... works well especially if you are going to do a program and meet more than once."

• "I think that the simpler and cheaper the item (pedometer) the easier it is to use and replace. If you need funding I suggest having the participants pay a portion of the cost. I did that in my first pedometer program and there were no complaints."

• "There are a number of competitive activity monitors available on the market, and some high quality digital pedometers. Why does a wellness coordinator spend their budget on a large number of poor quality devices, instead of a smaller number of high quality devices that can be circulated through the population to gather valid, long term data?"

• "I see pedometers as a feedback tool and a novelty. My experience is that people don't really know how much or how little they actually walk. (The could be similar to the polls that asked people if they were overweight and finding out that people were either in denial and/or just did not realize that they were."

Source: WellnessJunction.com, Wellness Manager Discussion Group