Wellness in Murfreesboro, TN: Healthy Living and Outdoor Recreation

Your health and your family’s health are of the utmost importance, and wellness should be a top priority when considering a move. Murfreesboro, Tennessee, provides residents with access to top-notch medical facilities, everyday wellness that supports holistic health and excellent elder care options. Discover a healthier, happier life in the Boro with year-round activities and health perks.

Whether you’re accessing specialized medical care or planning for an active retirement, Murfreesboro provides the healthcare resources needed to maintain a high quality of life for years to come.

Everyday Wellness & Outdoor Recreation

Murfreesboro is a Sun Belt city where residents enjoy mild winters and warm summers. This access to year-round nature activities keeps locals active throughout the Central Basin. Murfreesboro’s wetlands, rivers and grasslands are waiting for locals to explore.

Active Infrastructure

Murfreesboro has plenty of recreation opportunities and protected land for hiking, birding, jogging and dog walking.

• Murfree Spring Wetlands: This downtown city park is a 25-acre wetland with raised boardwalks and walking trails, where residents can spot red-shouldered hawks, wood ducks, yellow-crowned night herons and more.
• Barfield Crescent Park: The southern Murfreesboro 430-acre community park contains over 7 miles of hiking trails lined with native flowers and trees, playgrounds, campsites, an 18-hole championship Disc Golf course and multiple sports complexes. The park regularly hosts events like art pop-ups and guided snorkeling in Stones River.
• Siegel Natural Area: This 20-acre natural area features a creek, cedar glade, prairie, thickets, and woodlands. An unpaved trail winds through the site, which is home to several rare and threatened plant species.

Trail Networks & Greenways

Murfreesboro offers several excellent trail systems that highlight the city’s natural beauty, from riverside greenways to wooded mountain bike trails.

• Murfreesboro Greenway System: The trail winds through the middle of the Boro with more than 17 miles of trails, bridges, and boardwalks across seven sections, offering opportunities for walking, running, biking, paddling, fishing, birdwatching and other outdoor recreation, along with 3 watercraft launch points.
• Barfield Mountain Bike Trail: The county’s first mountain bike trail offers more than 8 miles of riding across roughly 100 acres, with trail loops designed for riders from beginner to advanced.

Community Wellness & Outdoor Education

Boro residents are dedicated to protecting native plants and areas in Rutherford County and the Inner Central Basin through community partnership and education.

• Tennessee Naturalist Program (TNP): The Wilderness Station at Barfield Crescent Park is the home to Murfreesboro’s TNP program, where volunteers learn to educate the public and support natural areas in Tennessee through volunteerism and scientific data collection.
• Murfreesboro Indigenous Plant Project (MIPP): Volunteers learn to collect and propagate native plants for home landscaping and natural area restoration projects, and to inform fellow citizens about the value of native plants.

Anchor Healthcare Systems

Murfreesboro serves as one of Middle Tennessee’s primary healthcare centers, providing residents with needed access to premier medical infrastructure. Existing organizations employ thousands of healthcare professionals who deliver advanced care while reducing the need for patients to travel to Nashville for many specialized treatments.

Murfreesboro health systems are investing in community health, with plans to expand women’s services at Ascension Saint Thomas and to add a freestanding ER run by Greater Nashville’s TriStar Health.

Ascension Saint Thomas

Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford has served Rutherford County for nearly a century and has grown into one of Middle Tennessee’s primary providers of specialty and acute care. The hospital serves as a regional destination for heart and vascular care, breast cancer treatment, orthopedics, intensive care, maternal-fetal medicine, obstetrics and more. The hospital is a Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence.

Over the past 15 years, Ascension Saint Thomas has invested more than $600 million in healthcare infrastructure, recently adding 36 inpatient beds to make 418 beds total. The health system also expanded access to care through Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Westlawn, Tennessee’s first neighborhood hospital. The 32,000-square-foot facility includes 8 private inpatient beds, 8 emergency treatment rooms, advanced imaging and a 24/7 emergency department.

Murfreesboro Medical Clinic & SurgiCenter (MMC)

Murfreesboro Medical Clinic & SurgiCenter (MMC) is one of the largest physician-owned, multispecialty medical groups in Middle Tennessee. The organization provides care in more than 20 medical specialties at 8 locations and operates an accredited ambulatory surgery center serving Rutherford County and the surrounding region.

MMC’s main 21,000-square-foot, three-story medical facility provides patients with primary care, specialty physicians, outpatient surgery, laboratory services, imaging and rehabilitation services within a coordinated healthcare network. MMC plans to begin construction on a 40,000-square-foot medical facility in 2026, providing internal medicine, family medicine and on-site laboratory and radiology services.

VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System

The Alvin C. York Veterans’ Administration Medical Center provides primary and specialty care to the region’s veterans, including mental health care, addiction and substance abuse treatment, recreational therapy, laboratory services and more. The 238-bed hospital operates the region’s only accredited residential rehabilitation treatment program specializing in post-traumatic stress and substance abuse recovery.

The facility is home to Tennessee’s first VA Fisher House, providing no-cost lodging for veterans and military families during intensive medical treatment. The Fisher House has 31 rooms and has served over 7,000 families since opening.

55+ Living, Senior Care & Eldercare Support

Murfreesboro’s expanding healthcare network and outdoor amenities attract residents of all ages, from young families to retirees. Whether you’re helping an aging parent transition into the next stage of life or planning for your own retirement years, Murfreesboro offers a growing range of senior services and supportive living options that support long-term well-being.

Continuing Care & Assisted Living

Experience true care at one of Murfreesboro’s modern senior living communities. Residents can choose from a range of housing and care options tailored to different levels of preferred independence and healthcare needs.

• Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs): Residents of Traditions of Smyrna can experience independent living with zero household responsibilities or maintenance and then transition to the assisted living community if assistance for daily tasks is needed.
• Resort-Style Assisted Living: Activities like Music & Memory, alongside a restaurant-style dining room, salon, and landscaped green space, make AdamsPlace a premier assisted living facility.

Memory Care & Caregiver Guidance

• Memory Care Living: At Traditions of Smyrna, residents can transition seamlessly from assisted living to specialized memory care. Each care plan is tailored to the resident’s personal preferences and form of dementia.
• In-home Elder Care: Home care providers, such as the family-owned and operated HoneyHill, offer companionship and personal care, along with services for those living with neurodegenerative diseases.

Local Nutrition, Holistic & Mental Health

The Murfreesboro community is dedicated to holistic wellness through good nutrition and health education.

Fresh Food Access & Farm-to-Table Options

• Farmers Markets: Grab locally grown produce and locally raised meats at the Murfreesboro Saturday Market or the producer-only Rutherford County Farmers’ Market.
• Specialty Grocers: Shop JR’s Foodland, a locally owned supermarket with fresh products, or Kim’s International Market for fresh, dry and packaged East Asian goods.
• Farm-to-Table Dining: Restaurants like Farmers Family Restaurant focus on locally grown produce and ingredients for better health.

Mental Wellness & Restorative Spaces

• Holistic Care: Invest in overall wellness with red light or ozone therapy at Boro Holistic Health. The facility also sells fresh foods and products and educates patients on healthy eating.
• Innovative Wellness: Intravenous therapy and functional medicine testing are available at VitalRenew. These treatments are designed to identify and treat the root cause of illness.
• Mental Health Care: Facilities such as Athena Care Murfreesboro and New Day Behavioral Health provide comprehensive treatment for residents’ most common mental health challenges.