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OMNI-RES Scale

Physical and occupational therapists often use both elastic and dumbbell resistance during shoulder rehabilitation exercises. Unfortunately, many therapists arbitrarily assign resistance levels to patients during their exercises based only on clinical experience. In the fitness setting, RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion) scales have been used successfully in dosing the intensity of both isotonic and Thera-Band® elastic resistance exercises (Colado & Triplett, 2008). In addition, RPE has been shown to be similar between Thera-Band and isotonic resistance of similar EMG activation during shoulder exercise in healthy subjects (Andersen et al, 2010). Most recently, as discussed on the Academy Blog, the OMNI-RES scale for perceived exertion was shown to be valid when used to prescribe elastic resistance exercise in healthy individuals.

Todd Ellenbecker DPT

Scientific Advisory Board memberTodd Ellenbecker, DPT from the Physiotherapy Sports Clinic in Scottsdale Arizona wanted to see if he could use RPE during rehabilitation exercises for his shoulder patients. He presented the results of his pilot study at the 13th annual TRAC meeting in San Francisco.

31 shoulder patients including 21 post-operative and 10 non-operative patients were in the study. They were asked to More >