Research

Energy balance

Triaxial accelerometry provides significantly higher accuracy in predicting total energy expenditure (TEE) and activity-related energy expenditure (AEE) in free-living conditions compared to uniaxial accelerometry.

If you are tracking energy expenditure or physical activity levels in a real-world setting, use a triaxial accelerometer (measuring movement in all three planes: vertical, mediolateral, and anteroposterior) rather than a simple pedometer or uniaxial monitor. The additional axes capture non-walking movements (like arm swings or twisting) that uniaxial devices miss, leading to a significantly more accurate estimate of your total energy expenditure.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The increase in the explained variation using three axes instead of one axis (vertical) was 5% (p < 0.05). ... To measure daily life activities, the use of triaxial accelerometry seems beneficial to uniaxial.
Guy Plasqui et al. · Obesity Research · 2005

Why this rating

High-quality validation against the gold standard (Doubly Labeled Water) in a controlled free-living setting, though sample size is moderate (n=29).

Source

Measuring Free‐Living Energy Expenditure and Physical Activity with Triaxial Accelerometry

Guy Plasqui et al. · Obesity Research · 2005

DOI 10.1038/oby.2005.165

cross_sectional · n=29Cited 180×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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