Mapping Nordic Walking Research in Ageing-Related Populations: A Bibliometric and Topic Modeling Analysis (2006-2025)

Area of Science:

• Gerontology and Exercise Science
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Public Health and Ageing

Background:

• Population ageing necessitates safe, accessible, and sustainable exercise interventions to maintain functional capacity and independence.
• Nordic walking research has explored various contexts, but a holistic understanding of its interconnected research strands is lacking.
• Existing syntheses often focus narrowly on specific effects, populations, or outcomes, limiting comprehensive knowledge integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the knowledge structure and thematic evolution of Nordic walking research in ageing populations from 2006 to 2025.
• To identify key research clusters and their interrelationships using bibliometric and topic modeling techniques.
• To provide insights for future research directions in Nordic walking for healthy ageing.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace software.
• Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling for thematic analysis.
• Inclusion of 263 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (2006-2025).

Main Results:

• Research activity is geographically concentrated, with dispersed institutional collaboration.
• Co-citation analysis reveals links to exercise science, rehabilitation, gerontology, gait analysis, and clinical health.
• Thematic evolution shows a shift from physiological/biomechanical characterization towards functional rehabilitation, chronic disease applications, and broader health outcomes.
• Seven LDA topics emerged: health-outcome evaluation, metabolic/cardiovascular health, functional rehabilitation, exercise physiology, cognitive health, body composition/muscle function, and gait rehabilitation.

Conclusions:

• Nordic walking research demonstrates an interconnected knowledge structure linking exercise mechanisms with functional and clinical outcomes in ageing populations.
• Future research should enhance intervention reporting, utilize population-specific outcomes, and strengthen the link between exercise mechanisms and health benefits.
• Improved research practices will foster more comparable and cumulative evidence for Nordic walking's role in healthy ageing.