Control of Separation in Sternal Instability by Supportive Devices: A Comparison of an Adjustable Fastening Brace, Compression Garment, and Sports Tape
Abstract
El-Ansary D, Waddington G, Adams R. Control of separation in sternal instability by supportive devices: a comparison of an adjustable fastening brace, compression garment and sports tape.
Objective
To evaluate the effectiveness of 3 supportive devices in controlling sternal separation.
Design
A cross-sectional, randomized intervention study.
Setting
Participants were from the general community who were referred to the study by their cardiac surgeon or cardiologist.
Participants
Fifteen patients (12 men, 3 women) between 49 and 80 years of age with sternal instability after a median sternotomy.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Support from sports tape, a compression garment, and an adjustable fastening brace was assessed by an ultrasound-based measure of sternal separation contingent on movement and by self-report measures of comfort, pain, feeling of support, ease of upper-limb movement, and ease of breathing.
Results
For both sternal separation and self-report data, some support was better than no support, and a supportive device worn on the body was better than sports tape. Wearing an adjustable fastening brace was better than a compression garment and, compared with no support, closed the sternal gap by 20% or 2.7mm (95% confidence interval, 1.5–3.9mm). The effects of wearing the different supportive devices on visual analog scale ratings of comfort, pain, support, ease of breathing, and movement mirrored the results obtained for sternal separation, thus providing agreement between self-report and objective measures.
Conclusions
Supportive devices may be useful in the management of patients with sternal instability because wearing one resulted in a reduction of both sternal separation and pain report after movement. The largest effect was obtained from wearing an adjustable fastening brace.
aSchool of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
bSchool of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
cDepartment of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Reprint requests to Doa El-Ansary, PhD, GPO Box 2377, Melbourne, 3001, Australia
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
ABSTRACT