Effects of Caffeine on Rating of Perceived Exertion and Pain During Anaerobic Testing

Background/Purpose:There have been a number of studies that have assessed the effects of caffeine on RPE and Pain Scale scores during continuous exercise. To date there is little information about the effects of caffeine on RPE and Pain Scale scores during short term, anaerobic activity. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess the effects of low-dose caffeine administration on RPE and Pain Scale scores after both the YMCA 1-min pushup test and the Wingate Anaerobic cycling test.

Method: Ten college-aged males were recruited to participate in the investigation. The subjects were given either a piece of Stay Alert® gum (KoKo's Confectioners, Hunt Valley, MD.) that is designed to deliver 100 mg of Caffeine in a buccal manner, or a placebo gum with identical shape and flavoring in a double-blind, placebo controlled, repeated measures design. The subjects chewed the gum (either Stay Alert® or placebo) for five minutes to allow for caffeine absorption and subsequently performed the YMCA 1-minute push-up test followed by the Wingate anaerobic test. Subjects responded to the standard Borg RPE scale and the Mosby 10pt pain scale immediately after each test.

Analysis/Results: Data analysis via repeated measures Mancova (Treatment x Exercise Type x Scale covaried for order) revealed significant main effects for Exercise Type (F=17.969, ηp=0.692, p=0.003) and Scale (F=17.969, ηp=0.979, p<0.001). Both results were as expected with average RPE and Pain reported higher for the Wingate assessment (10.60±0.471) than the 1-min pushup (8.68±0.587) as well as higher scores being reported on the 20pt Borg scale (15.10±0.537) compared to the 10pt pain scale (4.18±0.515). Mancova also revealed significant Treatment by Scale (F=5.083, ηp=0.382, p=0.05) and Exercise Type by Scale (F=8.364, ηp=0.511, p=0.020) two-way interactions. With caffeine supplementation subjects reported slightly lower values on the RPE scale (15.05±0.622 vs. 15.15±0.500) and slightly higher values on the pain scale (4.20±0.398 vs. 4.15±0.661). The two-way interaction between Exercise and Scale was attributable to subjects reporting higher scores for both scales after the Wingate assessment.

Conclusions: Based upon these data it would appear that low-dose caffeine administered in a buccal manner affects subjects reported RPE and Pain after two anaerobic tests, though the effect demonstrated opposite trends for each scale.