The Effect of Practicing Taekwondo on Some Psychomotor Characteristics of Medical Students

The profession of a doctor is a noble, demanding one, which involves many responsibilities and risks, but also a good knowledge of one's own body scheme, which involves motor adjustments that depend on mental activity. Through its content, the taekwondo course contributes to the knowledge, improvement and completion of specialized knowledge about the human body, its reactions to different stimuli and in complex moments, it can also contribute to the enrichment of knowledge about one's own reactions in extreme cases and their correction in favorable situations. Thus, practicing taekwondo in an organized setting helps us develop our coordination, neuromuscular elasticity, balance, agility, spatial-temporal orientation, effort capacity. In this sense, the research was carried out within the "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy on the groups that chose to take the taekwondo course. Purpose: This research wants to statistically highlight the effects of taekwondo, on some psychomotor characteristics, for medical students. Methods: The research was carried out on 130 students, who opted for the basic course in the sports branch of taekwondo, they had not previously practiced another sport in an organized setting, with height (168.35±6.97cm), weight (59.12 ±9.57 kg) and age (20.6±1.56 years). In carrying out this research, the test RCM1 (Complex Motor Reactivity 1) was used, administered as part of the initial test, at the beginning of the course in the first year, in the final test, at the end of the second year of study. Results: after processing the data, it emerged that taekwondo practiced in the basic course by medical students offers an increase in the indices of psychomotor characteristics by an average of 34.62%.