Abstract
Ten normal young adult females performed maximal and graded exertions of the stoop lift, hand grip, and finger pinch. The levels of graded exertion required were 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). The sequence of all conditions were fully randomized. Each of the randomized conditions was tried three times in succession. The entire experiment was carried out on four different days at the same time of the day on Monday, Wednesday, Friday of one week and Friday of the next week. The data obtained were subjected to descriptive and statistical analysis with t-test, analysis of variance, and correlation and regression. There were significant differences in the efforts produced in three different activities (p<0.01). The levels of exertion from 20% to 80% were significantly different from each other (p<0.01). However, there were no significant differences between the three trials of any given condition and the exertions produced on four different days. The 80% and 60% of exertions were overestimated and 20% was underestimated compared to the objective values based on MVC (p<0.01). At 40% effort there was no significant difference between the objective level of exertion and subjectively gauged and produced effort. The reliability of perception among the female subjects was similar for finger pinch, hand grip, and stoop lift activities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.