The Effect of Blood Infusion Upon Perceived Exertion

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of packed RBC infusion upon ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), Three types of RPE were measured: 1) local muscular RFE, 2) cardiopulmonary RPE, and J) general RFE, The subjects, 16 experienced long distance male runners, undertook four treadmill runs to exhaustion, Subjects were matched according to time to exhaustion (ET) on the first trial (T1), and assigned to either an experimental (E) or control (C) group, Both groups had 46o ml blood withdrawn following Tl, T2 served as a baseline test and was administered about two weeks following blood withdrawal, About seven days later 200 ml packed RBCs mixed with saline to a volume of 46o ml were infused into the E group while the C group received identical treatment using 46o ml saline, T3 was administered about two hours post-infusion and T4 was administered one week later. The performance criteria were the mean RPE values from Morgan's (1973) scale; RPEs were measured during eight time periods, seven submaximal levels and one maximal level, A 2x4x8 RM ANOVA was used to analyze the data, Within the limitations of this investigation the data supports the conclusion that blood infusion had no significant effect upon the three levels of perceived exertion.