In sports, health, and exercise testing, the rating of perceived exertion (RPE), as measured by the Borg rating of perceived exertion scale, is a quantitative measure of perceived exertion during physical activity. In medicine, this is used to document the patient's

exertion Exertion is the Action (physics), physical or perceived use of energy.Newton's Third Law, Elert, Glenn. “Forces.” ''Viscosity – The Physics Hypertextbook'', physics.info/newton-first/. Exertion traditionally connotes a strenuous or costly ''e ...

during a test for the severity of diseases. Sports coaches use the scale to assess the intensity of training and competition as well as endurance. The original scale introduced by

Gunnar Borg Gunnar is a male first name of Nordic origin (''Gunnarr'' in Old Norse). The name Gunnar means fighter, soldier, and attacker, but mostly is referred to by the Viking saying which means Brave and Bold warrior (''gunnr'' "war" and ''arr'' "warrior ...

rated exertion on a scale of 6-20. Borg then constructed a newer category-ratio scale, the Borg CR-10 scale, rated on a scale from 1-10. This is especially used in clinical diagnosis and severity assessment of breathlessness and

dyspnea Shortness of breath (SOB), known as dyspnea (in AmE) or dyspnoea (in BrE), is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that ...

, chest pain, angina and musculo-skeletal pain. The CR-10 scale is best suited when there is an overriding sensation arising either from a specific area of the body rather than overall exertion, for example, muscle pain, ache or fatigue in the quadriceps or from pulmonary responses during exertion. The Borg scale can be compared to other linear scales such as the

Likert scale A Likert scale ( ,) is a psychometric scale named after its inventor, American social psychologist Rensis Likert, which is commonly used in research questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, s ...

or a

visual analogue scale The visual analogue scale (VAS) is a psychometric response scale that can be used in questionnaires. It is a measurement instrument for subjective characteristics or attitudes that cannot be directly measured. When responding to a VAS item, respond ...

. The sensitivity and reproducibility of the results are broadly very similar, although the Borg scale may outperform the Likert scale in some cases.

Borg RPE scale

The Borg RPE scale is a numerical scale that ranges from 6 to 20, where 6 means "no exertion at all" and 20 means "maximal exertion." When a measurement is taken, a number is chosen from the following scale by an individual that best describes their perceived level of exertion during physical activity. The scale was constructed to roughly correlate to 10% of heart rate in a healthy 20-year-old. This explains why the rating starts at 6, which would roughly correspond to a resting heart rate at about 60 per minute. In older individuals, the correlation becomes higher than 10% at the high-end of the scale, as

maximum heart rate Heart rate is the frequency of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions of the heart per minute (''beats per minute'', or bpm). The heart rate varies according to the body's physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen and ex ...

declines with age.

Borg RPE scale and the external environment

More recent research points to that being physically active in outdoor environments, compared to indoors, to a varying degree can lower (23-66 %) the perceived exertion that at a given physiological exercise intensity is connected to in laboratory or other indoor conditions. *

CR-10 scale

Borg later developed a CR10 scale.

References

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External links

Information about Gunnar Borg PhD MD hc. at Department of Psychology, Stockholm University

Physical exercise Sports science Scales

Borg RPE scale

Borg RPE scale and the external environment

CR-10 scale

See also

References

External links