These guides are practical injury prevention and self-care reading for people in Carmel, Westfield, Fishers, Zionsville and north Indianapolis, written around the things people here actually do: running the Monon Trail, training for the Carmel Marathon and the Indy Mini, golf and pickleball seasons, shoveling heavy Indiana snow and getting ready for a joint replacement. Each one explains what tends to go wrong and what you can do about it yourself. When a problem needs more than a guide, the two-minute questionnaire connects you with an independent, Indiana-licensed physical therapist who works one-on-one in a private suite at Carmel City Center.
Last reviewed By the Monon Therapy Collective editorial team
- Written for
- Carmel, Westfield, Fishers, Zionsville, Noblesville and north Indianapolis
- Themes
- Running, sport seasons, Indiana winter, desk work, surgery prep
- Not a substitute for
- An examination by a licensed physical therapist or physician
Which guide fits the season you are heading into?
Pick the guide for the next eight to twelve weeks of your year, because most injuries in this area follow the calendar. From January to April the running guides matter, since the Carmel Marathon training guide and the Indy Mini strength plan both build toward spring races. From late March the golf and pickleball guides take over, and from December the snow and ice guides do.
If you are not training for anything in particular, the Monon Trail running guide and the desk ergonomics guide for hybrid workers cover the two habits most north-side adults share: miles on the same flat asphalt and long hours at a screen.
What should I read if an operation is already on the calendar?
Start with the checklist for your joint: the knee replacement checklist for the six weeks before surgery or the guide to preparing your home for a hip replacement. Both turn the advice from orthopedic surgeons’ patient materials into a dated to-do list, from dental work to where the reacher lives.
The phase-by-phase rehab pages sit in the separate recovery after surgery section. Once rehab begins, the guide on sticking with your home exercise program helps with the part that happens between sessions.
When is a guide not enough and a therapist worth seeing?
A guide is enough when the problem is mild, improving and you know what set it off. Book an assessment instead when pain has lasted more than two or three weeks without easing, keeps returning with the same activity, changes how you walk or run, or wakes you at night. Indiana lets you see a physical therapist without a referral for up to 42 calendar days.
The two-minute physical therapy questionnaire goes to the matching team, who propose an independent therapist in the network whose focus and schedule fit. Anything urgent, such as chest pain while shoveling or a fall with a hip that will not bear weight, needs 911 or an emergency department first.
Running
- Monon Trail running injury prevention guideWhy the Monon’s flat, uninterrupted asphalt invites overuse, and the habits and strength work that keep runners on it.
- Carmel Marathon training without injuryA winter-to-April build for the Carmel Marathon that keeps long runs, cold-weather miles and goal pace from breaking you.
- Indy Mini training: a strength plan for runnersTwelve weeks of twice-weekly strength work, phase by phase, for runners and walkers heading to the Indy Mini.
- Return to running after injury: a walk-run planReadiness checks, an eight-stage walk-run table and the pain rules that decide when to move up a stage.
- Strength training for runners: a twice-a-week planTwo runner-specific strength sessions, a weekly schedule around your runs, and a season-long progression.
- Marathon recovery week: what to do after the raceA day-by-day plan for the seven days after a marathon, plus the signs that soreness is something more.
- Choosing running shoes after an injuryHow to pick running shoes when you are coming back from an injury, and what shoes can and cannot do.
- Half marathon taper and recovery guideHow to taper for a half marathon, handle race-week aches, and recover in the days after the race.
Sport
- Pickleball injuries: a prevention guideThe court moments that cause most pickleball injuries, and the warm-up, footwork and strength habits that prevent them.
- Golf season back pain guide for Indiana golfersHow Indiana golfers can get through the spring opener and a full season without the low back paying for every swing.
- Youth sports overuse injuries: a guide for parentsWhy growing bodies get overuse injuries, which ones each sport tends to produce, and how parents can plan a safer season.
- Cycling the Monon Trail without knee painBike setup, gearing and mileage fixes for knee pain on the Monon Trail, sorted by where it hurts.
Indiana winter
- Snow shoveling without a back injuryHow to clear an Indiana driveway without straining your back: warm-up, technique, pacing and what to do if it tweaks.
- Winter fall prevention on Indiana icePractical ways for older adults near Carmel to stay upright on Indiana ice, and to get ready before the first freeze.
Everyday life
- Desk ergonomics guide for hybrid workersHow to set up both the office desk and the home desk so neck, shoulders and back cope with hybrid work.
- How to stick with your home exercise programPractical ways to actually do the exercises between physical therapy visits, and what to tell your therapist when you cannot.
- Gardening without back painPositions, tools, lifting and pacing that let you garden through the season without a sore back.
- Switching to a standing desk without back painHeights, a two-week ramp-up and posture fixes for moving to a sit-stand desk without new back pain.
- Keeping rehab progress while you travelA minimum-dose plan, packing list and hotel-room exercise swaps that keep rehab on track during trips.
- Carrying kids without back pain: a guide for parentsPractical ways to lift, hold and buckle in babies and toddlers without wrecking your lower back.
Before and after surgery
- Knee replacement checklist: 6 weeks before surgeryA week-by-week to-do list for the six weeks before a knee replacement: medical checks, prehab, home setup, help and rehab booking.
- Preparing your home for a hip replacementA room-by-room plan for setting up the house before a hip replacement, built on orthopedic surgeons’ patient guidance.
- How to talk to your surgeon about physical therapyThe questions to ask your surgeon about rehab before and after an operation, and what to get in writing.
- Returning to the gym after surgery: a 12-week planA general 12-week outline for getting back to strength training once you are cleared after an operation.
Strength and healthy aging
- Strength training after 50: where to startThe six movements, a starter week and the effort rule that make strength training after 50 safe and steady.
- Osteoporosis-safe exercise guideWhat to do, what to modify and how to progress exercise when you have osteopenia or osteoporosis.
- Balance exercises for seniors to do at homeEight counter-supported balance exercises for older adults, with safe setup and ways to progress.
- Lifting after back pain: return to the barbellA staged route from back pain back to deadlifts and squats, with criteria for each step.
Back and neck pain
- Low back pain: what to do in the first 72 hoursA day-by-day plan for the first three days of acute low back pain, plus the warning signs that cannot wait.
- Long drives and flights with back painSeat setup, stop schedules, in-seat movements and luggage handling for road trips and flights with a sore back.
- Sleeping positions for back, neck and shoulder painPillow setups for side, back and stomach sleepers with back, neck or shoulder pain, and how to tell when night pain needs a doctor.
Your care and home program
- How to read your MRI report in plain EnglishThe parts of an MRI report, a glossary of common spine terms, and how to tell normal aging from findings that matter.
- Home exercise equipment worth buying for rehabWhat to use from around the house, what is worth buying for a home exercise program, and what to skip.
