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Recover Stronger After Open Heart Surgery

Enter your email to access The Ultimate Guide for Open Heart Surgery Patients


Your step-by-step guide to a safer, faster, more comfortable recovery.

The ultimate guide for open heart surgery patients

More Resources for Your Recovery

Everything you need in one place, from useful tips, product instructions and videos, to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Sternal Precautions with QualiBreath

Protect your sternum for 8 weeks, and more as needed

After your heart procedure, QualiBreath, a special chest binder, will be placed around your chest to protect your sternum and to help your recovery.

QualiBreath sternum and thorax support illustration

QualiBreath should fit snugly, yet comfortably on your chest. It can be loosened or tightened to your comfort level. QualiBreath should sit high at the front of your chest. Adjust with the shoulder straps as needed. If you feel it’s irritating under your arms, pads can be provided for extra comfort. Note the 2 bar-handles on each side of your sternum. Grasp them both with your thumbs underneath and bring the bars together with your hands to get more support all around your chest. This is very useful when you cough, sneeze or strain. Use them also when you do breathing exercises or feel you need more support.

Do you need another QualiBreath?

Click here to buy a new QualiBreath

Sternal Precautions

Sternal precautions limits and movements

Limits and movements

  • 5 kg is your limit for pushing, pulling, and lifting.
  • Avoid reaching arms above your head, behind your back, or wide to the sides.
  • Do not allow others to pull on your arms when helping you move.
  • Keep elbows close to your body when you push, pull, or lift.
  • Bring the bar handles on the QualiBreath together when you need to cough or sneeze.

What weighs 5 kg?

  • Average 3-month-old baby
  • Cat or small dog
  • Filled laundry basket or garbage bag
  • Traditional vacuum cleaner
  • Large watermelon or pumpkin
  • Large bag of flour or sugar
  • Holiday ham or turkey
  • Sack of potatoes

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When you cough or sneeze

Bring the bar-handles together. A cough can produce about 20 kg of force on the sternum and incision.

Grasp the bar handles for extra support on QualiBreath
QualiPad seatbelt protection pad for heart surgery

Ready to go home? use the QualiPad Seatbelt Protection Pad to protect your chest from the car seatbelt.

Order now

How to get out and in bed

Getting up from bed

  1. Bring the QualiBreath bar-handles together with both hands and hold firmly during all steps.
    getting out of bed with QualiBreath
  2. Bend both knees and use your legs to roll onto your side with your upper arm under you.
    getting out of bed with QualiBreath
  3. Drop your legs off the side of the bed.
    getting out of bed with QualiBreath
  4. Lock your legs over the edge and let them do the major work to reach sitting. Support with your elbow.
    getting out of bed with QualiBreath
  5. Take a few deep breaths as you sit up and release the bar-handles.
    getting out of bed with QualiBreath

Getting in bed

  1. Sit well back on the bedside, bring the bar-handles together with both hands, and hold firmly.
  2. Lock your legs over the edge and let them do the major work getting to a side-lying position. Support with your elbow.
  3. Bring your legs up in bed and bend your knees.
  4. Use your legs to roll onto your back. Take a few deep breaths, relax, and release the bar-handles.

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Tips for conserving energy

  • Prioritize important tasks each day.
  • Plan daily and weekly activities, including rest. Gather supplies before starting tasks.
  • Keep a slow, steady pace. Alternate between easy and hard tasks.
  • Position to make activities easier. Sit instead of standing. Avoid bending and over-reaching.

Bathing

  • Remove QualiBreath while showering.
  • Keep elbows close to your body.
  • Consider a shower chair and handheld showerhead.
  • Sit during showering and drying to reduce fall risk and conserve energy.
  • Use warm, not hot, water to reduce shortness of breath and fatigue.

Dressing

  • Use QualiBreath every day and night for 8 weeks or longer.
  • Keep elbows close to your body. Sit during upper and lower body dressing.
  • Wear loose fitting clothes. Prefer buttoned shirts or blouses and loose pants.
  • Women with C-cup and larger should wear a bra such as QualiBra Advanced.
  • Consider a reacher and shoehorn to avoid over-reaching.

Meal preparation

  • Keep elbows close to your body.
  • Make easy-to-prepare foods.
  • Keep frequently used items at shoulder or waist height.
  • Consider reducing heavier items into smaller containers.

Toileting

  • Consider a raised toilet seat.
  • Use the cross and twist technique for bowel hygiene.
  • Consider using wet wipes.

Other activities

  • Always keep elbows close to your body. Remember the 5 kg limit.
  • Use caution with heavy/large or sealed doors, and with washer/dryer loading.
  • Use caution when holding and caring for children and pets.
  • Avoid lifting items away from your body. That increases pressure on sternum/incision.
  • Avoid vacuuming or mowing.
  • Do not walk with pets on a leash. Do not sleep with your hands behind your head.

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Home exercise guidelines

It is important to continue walking and being active at home to improve strength, muscle tone, circulation, breathing, and sense of well-being.

  • Walk 3 to 4 times a day and increase distance and time gradually.
  • Follow walks with rest, especially in the first weeks at home.
  • Frequency matters more than speed.
  • Avoid extreme temperatures. Walk indoors if needed.
  • Walk when rested on level ground.
  • Remember to breathe. Do not hold your breath.

Suggested progression

  • 1–5 minutes, 4 times daily
  • 6–10 minutes, 3 times daily
  • 11–20 minutes, 2 times daily
  • 20–30 minutes, once daily

Discontinue if you experience:

  • Chest pain, pressure, or tightness
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea, vomiting, or headaches
  • Shortness of breath
  • Sweating with cold clammy skin
  • Irregular heart rate

Notify your doctor if symptoms last longer than 10–15 minutes or recur with exercise.

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Why are sternal precautions important?

  • Maintain skin closure to help prevent incision infection.
  • Allow your sternum at least 8 weeks to heal.
  • QualiBreath assists and “reminds” you to take care of your sternum.

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  • 🎥 How-to Videos

  • How to use QualiBreath Sternum and Thorax support


    How patients can put on the QualiBreath unassisted


    Breathing & Sternotomy after open heart surgery


    QualiBreath explainer video


    AxillaPads - Accessory to QualiBreath



Do you need AxillaPads?

 Click here for AxillaPads

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Why Patients and Doctors Trust QualiBreath

Backed by published evidence and used in hospitals worldwide, QualiBreath is designed to improve comfort, support healing, and reduce complications.

Read the clinical evidence by clicking here.

Accessories for your recovery:

  • QualiPad Seatbelt protection pad: use this special seatbelt protector when go home from the hospital and for every other time you will be a passenger in a car during your recovery and until your chest bone is completely healed. 
  • AxillaPad: The AxillaPads are soft, comfortable cotton pads which will help you to protect the product from excessive underarm sweating while also enhancing the comfort under your arms.
  • CryoPouch: If you feel a lot of pain on your chest wound, the  CryoPouch is a practical tool that delivers non-drug pain relief as adjunctive pain therapy. It includes two reusable ice packs for cold treatment to reduce pain.
    It fits directly on the QualiBreath sternum and thorax support.

     

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Patient testimonials

Real experiences from recent recoveries using QualiBreath.

The benefit of your product is fantastic

I am current sat in a hospital in the UK wearing one of your QualiBreath bands, having had a recent cardiac procedure, the benefit of your product is fantastic. The surgical team used bands rather than wire to bring the sternum together, your band has taken away 90% of the ‘clicking’ that can be experienced with this form of closure.

I WISH I HAD KNOWN IT SOONER

I wish I had known about QualiBreath sooner so I could have worn it immediately after the surgery.

IT’S A MASSIVE HELP

It’s a massive help after my open heart surgery. Can only cough properly when I have this on!

HE FELT IT DEFINITELY BROUGHT HIS STERNUM TOGETHER AND STABILIZED THINGS

We purchased this product for my husband - he underwent open heart surgery at the end of August. Unfortunately, he had residual sternal pain postoperatively and after imaging, it was seen that he had some mild separation of his sternum in some areas. He is high risk for repeat surgery due to airway issues - so we were looking for non surgical options. We wanted to trial a brace to help stabilize his sternum and possibly bring it together for better healing. Your website was great - really seemed to fit the bill of what we needed. The first few days of wearing this brace he felt it definitely brought his sternum together and stabilized things. When he would take it off - he could tell things were different. Now that he has been wearing it almost a week - his pain has greatly improved in that area and he prefers keeping it on since the discomfort is gone when he wears it. The other thing to note is that he is a muscular 46 year old guy - he had surgery for an aortic aneurysm repair, not for heart disease. So - he is used to being active. He would not wear something like this if he didn’t get relief or comfort from it. We chuckle that it is his man-bra…although laughing makes his chest hurt, he now instinctively squeezes his brace handles and that helps. :) We are grateful to have this brace - it gives us hope that his sternum will have a chance to heal smoothly without further intervention.

See more reviews

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