Cadence

Sensitivity and Cadence are the most important settings for customizing your StepWatch to the gait style of any subject. The Cadence effectively limits how quickly steps can be detected and helps you avoid double counting steps. The Cadence is set in 1/100ths of a second.

RAISING the numerical value of the Cadence will LOWER the maximum rate at which steps can be detected. So the higher the cadence number the less often it will be ready to count a new step. The Cadence value should be set as high as is possible without missing steps at your subject's most rapidly stepping pace.

Normal values for adults are 60 - 80. Bias toward the higher numbers for people who take steps very slowly or who have long legs. Bias toward the lower numbers for people who take steps quickly or have short legs. Children without disability are in the 40 - 60 range.

Hint: To find out what the normal cadence is for a particular height, program the monitor with quick start at that height and all settings at normal. After it starts to run, read the monitor then start it with advanced programming. The cadence shown will be the cadence for a person of that height with nromal gait and normal walking speeds.

Check Settings
You should check your Cadence setting by having your subject walk in two ways with the StepWatch LED set to flash an adequate number of times:

1. The slowest pace they would ever normally walk. Watch the StepWatch light to see that steps are not being double counted. If you are seeing double counts, you will need to increase your Cadence value.
2. The fastest pace they would ever normally walk. Watch the light to see that steps are not being missed. If you notice that the light tends to blink at different points in the gait cycle during consecutive steps (which may make you feel uncertain about what you have observed), you probably have the Cadence value too high and should lower it and try again. If your subject routinely runs or does other quickly stepping activities, you may want to have them demonstrate the activity so you can evaluate the performance of the monitor by watching the light blink or by doing an accuracy trial.