Healthy Effects of Adapted Aikido in People With Grip Disfunction (AdAikido)

Study on the Health Effects of Adapted Physical Activity From Japanese Martial Arts-Aikido.

This study investigates the effects of an adapted aikido exercise program on

the health of adults with unilateral wrist and/or hand dysfunction. The un- derlying assumption is that regular practice of adapted aikido may improve

physical, psychological, and quality-of-life parameters in this population com- pared with a non-exercising control group.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Unilateral Handgrip Dysfunction
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Participation in an adapted aikido program

Detailed Description

The primary objective is to assess the physical health benefits derived from an adapted aikido training program in people with unilateral reduction of wrist and hand functionality. Secondary objectives are to examine poten- tial benefits on mental health and to evaluate the influence of aikido practice on quality of life. Accordingly, the working hypothesis is that participation in the program will lead to significant improvements in physical, functional, and psychological variables compared with the control group.

A longitudinal, controlled, single-center study with repeated measures is proposed, including 20 adult participants, 10 in the intervention group and 10 in the control group, all without prior aikido experience and not practicing other martial arts during the study. The intervention consists of an adapted aikido program with two one-hour sessions per week over approximately four months, delivered by an experienced instructor, with systematic attendance recording to monitor adherence.

Primary outcomes include arm muscle mass, muscle strength (analytical dynamometry and handgrip test), active range of motion of the wrist, el- bow, and shoulder, body mass index, and cardiac function assessed via heart rate during exercise. Secondary outcomes are upper limb function (DASH), pain (VAS), sleep quality (PSQI and accelerometry), body awareness (BAQ), mindfulness (MAAS), anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Scale), and positive and negative affect (PANAS).

Assessments will be conducted at three time points (baseline, mid-intervention, and post-intervention), combining clinical history, physical measurements, heart rate recordings, and psychological and quality-of-life questionnaires. Statistical analysis will include descriptive statistics, tests for normality and homoscedasticity, and repeated-measures ANCOVA with a significance level of 0.05 using R software, to determine the effect of adapted aikido on the different health indicators.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 20
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Fernando Cánovas García; Phone Number: 220 968278800; Email: fcanovas@ucam.edu

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Murcia
    • Murcia, Murcia, Spain, 30107
      • Recruiting
      • Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Be of legal age.
• Have no prior knowledge of aikido.
• Not be practicing other martial arts at the time of inclusion in the study or during the adapted training program.
• Unilateral dysfunction of the hand and/or wrist that prevents or hinders tasks related to gripping (only for case group).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Presence of anatomical or functional alterations that could affect the performance of aikido techniques (other than those allowed for the study group).
• Intellectual disability and/or inability to understand the informed con- sent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Case group; Case group is formed by people with handgrip dysfunction	Other: Participation in an adapted aikido program; The aikido program has been adapted for optimal practice by people with handgrip dysfunction. Several key components of the techniques have been modified to enable their performance by individuals with limited hand mo- bility.
Active Comparator: Control group; Control group is formed by healthy people	Other: Participation in an adapted aikido program; The aikido program has been adapted for optimal practice by people with handgrip dysfunction. Several key components of the techniques have been modified to enable their performance by individuals with limited hand mo- bility.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Arm muscle mass	Estimated from arm circumference and triceps skinfold measurements. The instruments used will be an anthropometric tape and a skinfold caliper, respectively.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Muscle strength	Analytical strength measurements will be taken for the main muscles responsible for each movement of the upper limb, as well as a handgrip test to assess overall hand grip strength. The instruments used will be a Jamar dynamometer and a hand-held dynamometer.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Active joint mobility of the wrist, elbow, and shoulder	It will be measured using a digital inclinometer, an instrument that has shown lower measurement error than the universal goniome- ter, the standard tool for assessing joint range of motion.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Body Mass Index	It will be measured by bioelectrical impedance.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Cardiac function	It will be assessed by monitoring heart rate during exercise, using a chest-strap heart rate monitor.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Upper limb function	Assessed using the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, in its validated Spanish version.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Wrist and hand pain	Measured using a Visual Analogue Scale	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Sleep quality	Used as an indicator of quality of life and assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and accelerometry.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Level of body awareness	Measured with the Body Awareness Questionnaire	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Mindfulness or dispositional mindfulness values	Measured using the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale and used as an indicator of psychological well-being.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Anxiety level	Measured with the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, an anxiety scale with good psychometric properties that has been used in previous aikido studies.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.
Positive and negative affect values	Measured using the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule, a test previously used in aikido interventions to assess their effect on the psychological state of practitioners.	The evolution of the variable will be evaluated on days 60 and 120.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 19, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 29, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 29, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 12, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Exercise Therapy; Adapted Physical Activity; Aikido; Handgrip Dysfunction
• Other Study ID Numbers: UCAMCFE-00042

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No