Docs don't want to see your FitBit records, but ...

Docs don't want to see your FitBit records, but they do want your Holter monitor.

Docs do want you to exercise, or rather keep an active life and intense exercise is a good part of that but also make sure you don't sit down all the time, just walking and standing up and moving around calmly is probably a better thing to shoot for.

Having a FitBit or other exercise tracker, they consider that great, of course, because it means you are thinking about your fitness and trying to keep active.

But your PCP (your family doctor) does not want to see your FitBit records. They don't care how many steps you make a day. They don't care that you missed a few days last week (OK all last week. but the week before I made it every day!). They don't care about the fine detail of every second of every hour. They just want to know that you're using it. Or that you're making progress. Or that you're unable to hit the targets (knee surgery?).

Yes, the FitBit data is 'big data', and big data is useful...in general, but your PCP can't do anything with all those numbers. Your PCP isn't a big data consumer. Your PCP just wants to know (for the most part) Yes or No (or better than last year). Yes, totally get a FitBit, and totally because you think it'll please your PCP, and totally tell your PCP that you have one, and they'll totally be genuine proud of you. But don't think they can do anything with your data.

Maybe, just maybe, your cardiologist wants to know some of these details. Wait, no, your cardiologist doesn't want to know your FitBit data. What FitBit is tracking is not useful for them. Steps per day? Heart rate pattern over a time period? Oh...maybe a cardiologist does want to see a continuous EKG, like what you get from a Holter monitor. That is a specialist who can understand that data under a very prescribed situation. And with intensive study of that data as a specialist.

If say these fitness trackers somehow morph into a full body tricorder, measuring all possible metrics continuously, then maybe just maybe, it will become useful as a big continuous stream.

I'm sure the FitBit company data scientists could tell something interesting about behavior and fitness by working with sports physicians, epidemiologists, internal medicine in general, to discover interesting patterns of use of the product and specific health metrics.

But for you? Right now? Are you using a fitness tracker? Your doc does want to know that. Are you meeting your fitness goals everyday? Yes, your doc want to know that. Does your doc want to see your heart rate for the past month continuously by minute? No, your doc does not want to see that.