Recovery guide Rehabilitation
Physical therapy after heart surgery
Physiotherapy after cardiac surgery is not about getting fit. It is about reversing what weeks of stillness and shallow breathing did — and doing it without asking the healing sternum to hold anything it cannot.
Posthorax Australia · Reviewed 30 July 2026 · About a 4 minute read
It starts on day one
Physiotherapy begins in hospital, and the first sessions look modest: sitting on the edge of the bed, standing, a few steps, and the breathing routine. Modest is the point — early mobilisation is what prevents chest infections, clots and deconditioning.
A physiotherapist will also teach you how to get in and out of bed and out of a chair without pushing through your arms. That technique protects your sternum every day for the next two months.
Working around sternal precautions
For the first six to eight weeks the bone is the limiting factor, not your muscles or your heart. So the programme concentrates on walking, gentle range-of-movement work and breathing, and leaves resistance work for the upper body until your team clears it.
Nothing in that period should involve pulling, pushing or lifting beyond the limits you were given. If an exercise makes the chest feel strained or you notice any clicking, stop and report it.
Cardiac rehabilitation
Within a few weeks most patients start a supervised cardiac rehabilitation programme, usually running six to twelve weeks. Sessions combine monitored exercise with education on medications, diet, risk factors and getting back to work and driving.
It is the most evidence-backed thing available to you after cardiac surgery, and the monitoring matters as much as the exercise: doing more than you dared, safely, is what rebuilds confidence. If transport or timing is a barrier, ask about home-based or telehealth options rather than skipping it.
How chest support fits
Pain limits what physiotherapy can achieve — you cannot walk far or breathe deeply while braced against it. Stabilising the sternum reduces that pain, which is why support garments are part of the mobilisation protocol in the units that use them, rather than a comfort item.
Questions patients ask
+When does physiotherapy start after heart surgery?
In hospital, usually the day after surgery, with breathing exercises, sitting, standing and short walks. Supervised cardiac rehabilitation typically begins within a few weeks of discharge.
+What exercises can I do with sternal precautions?
Walking, gentle range-of-movement work and breathing exercises. Pushing, pulling and lifting beyond your prescribed limits wait until your team clears them, usually after the six-week review.
+How long does cardiac rehabilitation last?
Commonly six to twelve weeks of supervised sessions, followed by an ongoing programme you continue on your own. Your local service will confirm its format.
Who writes this, and what it is not
Written by Posthorax Australia, the Australian distributor of the POSTHORAX® range, for patients and families after cardiac surgery. General recovery guidance reflects standard postoperative practice; claims about the device come from the trials cited on our clinical evidence page.
We are not your treating team and this is not medical advice. Where anything here conflicts with your surgeon, GP, physiotherapist or cardiac rehabilitation service, follow them.
Reviewed 30 July 2026 · Corrections: sales@posthorax.com.au