A Comparison of a Psychophysical Estimation and a Production Method in a Laboratory and a Field Condition

A new field of psychophysical scaling was opened when the concept of perceived exertion was introduced by Borg (1962). When later the simple category scale for perceived exertion was presented (Borg, 1970), which came to be known as the RPE- or Borg-scale, a wide range of clinical applications was made possible. The registration of patients’ feeling of effort during a Graded Exercise Test (GXT) is only one of several possible applications. It supplies the test administrator with important complementary information in addition to objective, physiological variables. Another application is the use of perceived exertion in exercise prescription. The use of ratings of perceived exertion was found to be nearly as effective as the use of heart rate in the prescription and regulation of exercise intensity (Chow & Wilmore, 1984). RPE-values in combination with heart rate (HR) were found to be a very useful tool in individualizing exercise programs (Burke, 1979). Furthermore, RPE-values have proved their value in several cardiac rehabilitation programs (Hage, 1981; Silvidi et al., 1982). However, attention should be paid to possible misuse of the scale in prescribing exercise intensities. Noble (1982) warned for over-extending its use. Determining the relation between estimated RPE and HR in a GXT, and subsequently using these ratings of perceived exertion directly to guide exercise intensity, and thus HR, for example, might often be too simple. Two different psychophysical techniques are involved, which are known to produce different results because of regression effects (Stevens & Greenbaum, 1966). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.