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given its health benefits and natural movement technique , walking with poles ( nordic 
 walking [ nw ] ) has become an increasingly popular form of physical recreation1 , 2 . 

nw is 
 recommended especially for the elderly because poles are additional points of support and 
 thus reduce the risk of falling3 , 4 .
recent studies have shown that walking with poles can also be applied in the rehabilitation 
 of patients with cardiovascular5 , 6 and respiratory disorders7 , parkinson disease8 , and metabolic disorders such as diabetes9 or obesity10 .
documented in their review numerous health 
 benefits of nw in people of various ages11 .
scientific experiments compared between the energy expenditure ( ee ) in nw at different 
 speeds and that in conventional walking ( cw ) at the same rate . for example , indirect 
 calorimetry was used for this purpose , based on an analysis of the composition of 
 respiratory gas12 , 13 .
simpler techniques for the assessment of ee in locomotion 
 movements have been used as methods of monitoring effort kinematic parameters , in which 
 electronic or mechanical motion sensors record the number of steps ( pedometry ) or 
 acceleration of the body in space ( accelerometry ) .
the aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of pedometry and accelerometry in 
 the estimation of ees in nw and cw in women , in relation to exercise heart rate ( ehr ) 
 monitoring ( pulsometry ) during walking over a distance of 1,000  m.
the research was approved by the ethics committee of the jerzy kukuczka university of 
 physical education in katowice ( nr 2/2012 ) .
the study included 20 female students in 
 physiotherapy from the college of strategic planning in dbrowa grnicza ( mean  sd : age , 24 
  2.3  years ; body height , 165.6  6.9  cm ; weight , 58.6  11  kg ; body mass index , 21.4  
 3.3  kg / m ) .
the tests were conducted in the spring , in the afternoon , on flat 
 asphalt paths at the pogoria iii recreation center in dbrowa grnicza . before the 
 measurements ,
the subjects were acquainted with the study purpose and procedure , and trained 
 in advance to walk correctly with poles .
the study used three types of measuring devices , namely a heart rate monitor ( polar s610i ) 
 to measure ehr and walking duration , a caltrac accelerometer to assess ee , and a pedometer 
 ( yamax sw-800 ) to record the number of steps and ee .
the students walked twice the distance of 1,000 m , walking separately at a pace of 110 
 steps / min .
they were allowed a 3-hour resting break between the tests to normalize the heart 
 rate to a rest state and to set up the second measurement and measuring devices . walking 
 pace ( step frequency ) was set for each person by using a metronome sound signal .
the end result of both tests was expressed 
 as the walking duration in seconds ( s ) , recorded by using a heart rate monitor .
for the statistical analysis , the statistica v. 10 software ( statsoft inc . , usa ) was used . 

arithmetic means ( x ) , standard deviations ( sd ) , and the differences between 
 the mean values ( d ) were calculated .
walking in a moderate pace using the nw technique was characterized by a significantly 
 higher ehr and ee than cw , as measured by using the caltrac accelerometer ( p < 0.05 ) . by 
 contrast , cw showed higher ee than nw when measurements were made using a pedometer ( p < 
 0.001 ) .
ehr was significantly higher during nw ( 128.5 bpm ) than during cw ( 117.1 bpm ; p < 
 0.001 ; table 1table 1.differences in various parameters between nordic and conventional walkingvariablesnordic walkingconventional walkingdxsdxsdtime ( s)642.560.3678.863.136.3*number of steps1,257.986.71,323.473.565.5*caltrac ee ( kcal)50.316.144.813.25.5*pedometer ee ( kcal)47.49.650.29.72.8**exercise heart rate128.519.0117.117.211.4**ee : energy expenditure . * p < 0.05 , * * p < 0.001 ) .
ee : energy expenditure . * p < 0.05 , * * p < 0.001 correlation analysis was performed to determine the correlation between her and the 
 estimates of ee measured with a pedometer and that measured with an accelerometer , both 
 during cw and nw .
ee measured with the caltrac accelerometer and pedometer moderately 
 correlated with ehr during nw ( table 
 2table 2.relationship between results obtained by using various devices during nordic and 
 conventional walkinghr [ bpm](cw)hr [ bpm](nw)pedometer ee[kcal ] ( cw)pedometer ee[kcal ] ( nw)caltrac ee[kcal ] ( cw)caltrac ee[kcal ] ( nw)hr [ bpm ] ( cw)1.00hr [ bpm ] ( nw)0.86 * 1.00pedometer ee [ kcal ] ( cw)0.360.45 * 1.00pedometer ee [ kcal ] ( nw)0.440.51 * 0.94 * 1.00caltrac ee [ kcal ] ( cw)0.49 * 0.57 * 0.85 * 0.78 * 1.00caltrac ee [ kcal ] ( nw)0.46 * 0.57 * 0.64 * 0.55 * 0.60 * 1.00nw : nordic walking , cw : conventional walking , hr : heart rate , ee : energy expenditure . 

the value of the correlation coefficient for the results obtained with an 
 accelerometer and a pedometer was significantly higher during cw ( r = 0.85 ) 
 than during nw ( r = 0.55 ) .
these results suggest the interchangeability of 
 the two measuring devices when estimating ee in cw .
nw : nordic walking , cw : conventional walking , hr : heart rate , ee : energy expenditure . 

the study discusses the problem of assessing the suitability of pedometric and 
 accelerometric techniques in estimating ee in walking forms of locomotion .
the aim of the 
 study was to assess the reliability of estimating the ee in cw and nw by using a pedometer 
 and an accelerometer in relation to ehr monitoring results .
subsequent analyses showed that the ee in nw , estimated by using an accelerometer , was 
 approximately 5.5  kcal higher than in walking without poles .
this phenomenon was confirmed by the higher ehr during nw , the value of which was 
 moderately correlated with ee measured with an accelerometer .
the ee calculated from the number of steps ( pedometer ) was higher for cw , which clearly 
 contradicts the lower ehr in this form of walking .
the highly probable cause of this 
 discrepancy is that a pedometer estimates the ee from the number of steps , which was higher 
 in cw .
accelerometry is based on a more advanced technology and measures the acceleration 
 that better characterizes intensity as a quality parameter of physical activity , as opposed 
 to the number of steps , which is a quantitative parameter . in light of this argument
, it 
 should be concluded that an accelerometer is more useful for estimating ee in nw .
the higher ee in nw stems from the higher accelerations during body movements as recorded 
 by the accelerometer , which is related to the dynamic muscle work of the shoulders , shoulder 
 girdle , and back .
consequently , 
 exercising nw for a longer period of time results in increased muscle strength of the upper 
 body16 , which is another advantage of 
 nw over cw in terms of health benefits .
[ purpose ] the objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of pedometry and 
 accelerometry in the measurement of the energy expenditures in nordic walking and 
 conventional walking as diagnostic parameters . [ subjects and methods ] the study included 
 20 female students ( age , 24  2.3  years ) . 
 the study used three types of measuring devices , 
 namely a heart rate monitor ( polar s610i ) , a caltrac accelerometer , and a pedometer ( yamax 
 sw-800 ) . 
 the walking pace at the level of 110 steps / min was determined by using a 
 metronome . 
 [ results ] the students who walked with poles covered a distance of 1,000  m at a 
 speed 36.3 sec faster and with 65.5 fewer steps than in conventional walking . 
 correlation 
 analysis revealed a moderate interrelationship between the results obtained with a 
 pedometer and those obtained with an accelerometer during nordic walking 
 ( r = 0.55 ) and a high correlation during conventional walking 
 ( r = 0.85 ) . 
 [ conclusion ] a pedometer and caltrac accelerometer should 
 not be used as alternative measurement instruments in the comparison of energy expenditure 
 in nordic walking .