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.

perceived exertion - deltoid - aging

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