Health Effects of Taekwondo Training for Elderly Over the Age of 60 Years (TKD 60+)

February 27, 2026 updated by: Vegard Vereide Iversen

Physical and Cognitive Effects of Taekwondo Training for Elderly Over the Age of 60 Years.

This randomized controlled trial investigates the effects of a 10-week Taekwondo (TKD) training intervention on physical and cognitive function in community-dwelling adults aged 60 years and older. Participants are randomly allocated to either an intervention group undertaking supervised Taekwondo training twice weekly or to a waiting-list control group maintaining usual activity for 10 weeks before receiving the same intervention.

The primary aim is to determine whether structured Taekwondo training improves balance performance compared to a control condition. Secondary outcomes include lower- and upper-body muscular strength, cardiorespiratory fitness (VO₂max), blood pressure, body composition, and selected cognitive outcomes.

Assessments are conducted at baseline and after the 10-week intervention period. A 1-year follow-up assessment is included to examine long-term maintenance of effects. The study is designed to evaluate whether Taekwondo represents a safe, feasible, and effective multimodal training approach for promoting physical function and healthy ageing in older adults.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Bergen, Norway, 5097
        • Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Over the age of 60 years, no previous experience with martial art

Exclusion Criteria:

  • sick and not able to speak Norwegian

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: TKD intervention
10 week TKD training
Tkd training two times a week for ten weeks
No Intervention: Control
Live life as usual

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
TKD training change strength
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Change chest and leg strength
10 weeks
Taekwondo training change strength
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Taekwondo changes strength measured by Keiser chest press and leg press apparatus
10 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 25, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

June 25, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 22, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 27, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 27, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • WesternNorwayUASb

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

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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