RPE Angle Effects in Young and Middle-Aged Adults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine contraction intensity and arm abduction angle effects on perceived exertion between healthy young (n=14) and middle-aged (n=13) adults. Subjects participated in three separate experimental sessions during which, maximal (MVC) and sub-maximal (10–90% MVC, 10% increments, random order) arm abduction contractions were performed at one of the following randomly assigned angles: 30, 60 and 90° Perceived exertion was sampled with a modified Borg category-ratio scale following each sub-maximal contraction. Voluntary arm abduction torque was significantly (p<0.05) greatest at 30°, as compared to 60° and 90°, while no significant differences were observed between the young and middle-aged adults. Perceived exertion was significantly (p<0.05) greatest at 90° abduction, as compared to 30° and 60°, and was not different between the two age groups. Power function modeling revealed that perceived exertion was significantly (p<0.05) fit to negatively accelerating non-linear trends for the middle-aged adults at all arm angles and at 90° for the young adults. The findings demonstrated greater ratings of perceived exertion at elevated arm positions, while middle-aged adults displayed a non-linear contraction intensity dependency at the lower arm elevation angles.

Key words

perceived exertion - deltoid - aging

References

• 1 Allman BL, Rice CL. Perceived exertion is elevated in old age during an isometric fatigue task.  Eur J Appl Physiol. 2003;  89 191-197
• 2 Belling-Sorensen AK, Jorgensen U. Secondary impingement in the shoulder. An improved terminology in impingement.  Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2000;  10 266-278
• 3 Borg GAV. Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion.  Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1982;  14 377-381
• 4 Brookham RL, Moreton JN, Dickerson CR. Perception of shoulder muscular effort during low-demand load transfer tasks.  Work. 2008;  31 417-424
• 5 Cools AM, Witvrouw EE, Declercq GA, Danneels LA, Cambier DC. Scapular muscle recruitment patterns: trapezius muscle latency with and without impingement symptoms.  Am J Sports Med. 2003;  31 542-549
• 6 Dickerson CR, Martin BJ, Chaffin DB. The relationship between shoulder torques and the perception of muscular effort in loaded reaches.  Ergonomics. 2006;  49 1036-1051
• 7 Edin BB, Vallbo AB. Dynamic response of human muscle spindle afferents to stretch.  J Neurophysiol. 1990;  63 1297-1306
• 8 Harriss DJ, Atkinson G. International Journal of Sports Medicine – Ethical Standards in Sport and Exercise Science Research.  Int J Sports Med. 2009;  30 701-702
• 9 Jasperse JL, Seals DR, Callister R. Active forearm blood flow adjustments to handgrip exercise in young and older healthy men.  J Physiol. 1994;  474 353-360
• 10 Johansson H, Sjolander P, Sojka P. A sensory role for the cruciate ligaments.  Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1991;  268 161-178
• 11 Leicht AS, Spinks WL. Effect of shoulder angle on physiological responses during incremental peak arm crank ergometry.  J Sports Sci. 2007;  25 443-452
• 12 Noble BJ, Robertson RJ. Perceived exertion.. Human Kinetics Publishers. Champaign, IL 1996: 4-71
• 13 Pincivero DM, Coelho AJ, Campy RM, Salfetnokov Y, Bright A. The effects of voluntary contraction intensity and gender on perceived exertion during isokinetic quadriceps exercise.  Eur J Appl Physiol. 2001;  84 221-226
• 14 Pincivero DM, Coelho AJ, Campy RM. Perceived exertion and maximal quadriceps femoris muscle strength during dynamic knee extension exercise in young adult males and females.  Eur J Appl Physiol. 2003;  89 150-156
• 15 Pincivero DM, Lephart SM, Moyna NM, Karunakara RG, Robertson RJ. Neuromuscular activation and RPE in the quadriceps at low and high isometric intensities.  Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1999;  39 43-48
• 16 Porter MM, Myint A, Kramer JF, Vandervoort AA. Concentric and eccentric knee extension strength in older and younger men and women.  Can J Appl Physiol. 1995;  20 429-439
• 17 Robertson RJ, Noble BJ. Perception of physical exertion: methods, mediators, and applications.. In: Holloszy JO (ed) Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins; 1997: 407-452
• 18 Smolander J, Aminoff T, Korhonen I, Tervo M, Shen N, Korhonen O, Louhevaara V. Heart rate and blood pressure responses to isometric exercise in young and older men.  Eur J Appl Physiol. 1998;  77 439-444
• 19 Taylor JA, Hand GA, Johnson DG, Seals DR. Sympathoadrenal-circulatory regulation during sustained isometric exercise in young and older men.  Am J Physiol. 1991;  261 R1061-R1069
• 20 Timmons MK, Stevens SM, Pincivero DM. The effect of arm abduction angle and contraction intensity on perceived exertion.  Eur J Appl Physiol. 2009;  106 79-86

Correspondence