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Reliability of ratings of perceived exertion during progressive treadmill exercise.

Lamb, Kevin L.
; 
Eston, Roger
; 
Corns, David
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Affiliation
University College Chester
EPub Date
Publication Date
1999-10
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Sport and Exercise Sciences
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the test-retest reliability (repeatability) of Borg's 6-20 rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale using a more appropriate statistical technique than has been employed in previous investigations. The RPE scale is used widely in exercise science and sports medicine to monitor and/or prescribe levels of exercise intensity. The "95% limits of agreement" technique has recently been advocated as a better means of assessing within-subject (trial to trial) agreement than traditional indicators such as Pearson and intraclass correlation coefficients. METHODS: Sixteen male athletes (mean (SD) age 23.6 (5.1) years) completed two identical multistage (incremental) treadmill running protocols over a period of two to five days. RPEs were requested and recorded during the final 15 seconds of each three minute stage. All subjects successfully completed at least four stages in each trial, allowing the reliability of RPE responses to be examined at each stage. RESULTS: The 95% limits of agreement (bias +/- 1.96 x SDdiff) were found to widen as exercise intensity increased: 0.88 (2.02) RPE units (stage 1), 0.25 (2.53) RPE units (stage 2), -0.13 (2.86) RPE units (stage 3), and -0.13 (2.94) RPE units (stage 4). Pearson correlations (0.81, 0.72, 0.65, and 0.60) and intraclass correlations (0.82, 0.80, 0.77, and 0.75) decreased as exercise intensity increased. CONCLUSIONS: These findings question the test-retest reliability of the RPE scale when used to monitor subjective estimates of exercise intensity in progressive (or graded) exercise tests.
Citation
British journal of sports medicine, 1999, 33 (5), pp. 336-339
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal
Research Unit
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10034/29192
DOI
PubMed ID
10522637
PubMed Central ID
Type
Article
Language
en
Description
This is the author's PDF of an article published in British journal of sports medicine© 1999. The definitive version is available at http://bjsm.bmj.com
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ISSN
0306-3674
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http://bjsm.bmj.com/