Article

Background The Borg Scale for the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) is
recommended to measure the intensity of physical exercise during stroke
rehabilitation, but its reliability in activities of daily living is not
explored. Objective To evaluate the correlation between the RPE using the Borg
Scale (6-20) and the intensity of effort as measured by the Total Energy
Expenditure per minute (TEE.min(-1)) in a post-stroke population for two tasks:
walking at spontaneous comfortable speed and walking up and down stairs. Methods
A cross-sectional study has been conducted. Any post-stroke subjects able to walk
without being helped were recruited. Subjects were asked to walk at their
spontaneous comfortable walking speed for 6 min and then to walk up and down
stairs with a portable gas analyzer to measure the TEE.min(-1). The RPE was
evaluated by the Borg scale (6-20). The correlation between the RPE and the
TEE.min(-1) for each subject's walking task and stairs task was calculated with
the Pearson coefficient. Results Twenty subjects were included. TEE.min(-1)
averaged at 5.6 (+/-1.2 kcal.min(-1)) for the walking task and 9.58 (+/-4.3
kcal.min(-1)) for the stairs task. The median RPE was 11 (min 6; max 15) for the
walking task and 11 (min 6; max 16) for the stairs task. The correlation
coefficient between the RPE and TEE.min(-1) was r = 0.12 (p = 0.25). Conclusion
Our work has not determined a correlation between the RPE and TEE.min(-1) for two
common activities of daily living in post-stroke subjects.

Langue : ANGLAIS