Heart Hugger Sternum Support Harness

After Cardiac or Thoracic surgery, pain is a fact of life, and there's no mystery about what causes it - stress on the surgical wound. Heart Hugger circles the rib cage with uniform pressure. Because it is patient operated, it gives patients full-time control over the pain that goes along with every movement and gives them the confidence and independence to do the respiratory therapy and ambulatory exercises necessary for recovery. 

Gen­er­al Car­diac Tech­nol­o­gy, Inc. man­u­fac­tures Heart Hug­ger Ster­num Sup­port Har­ness, a pa­tient-​op­er­at­ed ster­num sup­port har­ness that is ap­plied post-​op to splint sur­gi­cal wounds for im­proved pa­tient com­pli­ance and few­er wound com­pli­ca­tions. A 4-​inch wide belt with shoul­der straps fits around the rib cage with han­dles at mid-​ster­num. When pa­tients need to cough, stand, sit, roll, or walk, they squeeze the han­dles to­geth­er, sup­port­ing the chest wall and sta­bi­liz­ing ster­nal wounds, ribs, chest and back and pro­vid­ing pain re­lief. Heart Hug­ger is uti­lized by over 220 lead­ing Heart Pro­grams in the U.S. and 340 Heart Pro­grams world-​wide. See more at www.hearthug­ger.com

Fitting Women

For women, the handles rest above the breasts not around them. The handles might be a  bit flared out at the bottom. This should be OK so long as you can get to them with  your fingertips so you can squeeze the handles together and tighten the chest strap. The retention strap can also offer women’s breasts additional support and comfort with a snug fit. What can help some women is having them bring their most comfortable front hook  bra from home or a tight tee shirt. They wear the bra under the gown then Heart Hugger  over that.