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Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of SenseWear^® (SW) and RT3 activity monitors (AMs) in estimating energy expenditure (EE) in manual wheelchair users (MWUs) with paraplegia for a variety of physical activities.

Methods: Twenty-four subjects completed four activities including resting, wheelchair propulsion, arm-ergometry exercise, and deskwork. The criterion EE was measured by a K4b2 portable metabolic cart. The EE estimated by the SW and RT3 were compared with the criterion EE by the absolute differences and absolute percentage errors. Intraclass correlations and the Bland and Altman plots were also used to assess the agreements between the two AMs and the metabolic cart. Correlations between the criterion EE and the estimated EE and sensors data from the AMs were evaluated.

Results: The EE estimation errors for the AMs varied from 24.4 to 125.8% for the SW and …