Rib Anatomy
All ribs are attached in the back to the thoracic vertebrae.
The upper seven true ribs (costae verae, vertebrosternal ribs, I-VII). are attached in the head to the sternum by means of costal cartilage. Due to their elasticity they allow movement when inhaling and exhaling.
The 8th, 9th, and 10th ribs are called false ribs (costae spuriae, vertebrochondral ribs, VIII-X), and join with the costal cartilages of the ribs above.The 11th and 12th are also sometimes referred to as false ribs.
The 11th and 12th ribs are known as floating ribs (costae fluitantes, vertebral ribs, XI-XII), as they do not have any anterior connection to the sternum.
The spaces between the ribs are known as intercostal spaces; they contain the intercostal muscles, nerves, and arteries.
Read more about this topic: Human Rib Cage
Famous quotes containing the words rib and/or anatomy:
“Though shoulder, bosom, lip, and knee
Are praised in every kind of art,
Here is love’s true anatomy:
His rib is gone; he’ll have her heart.”
—John Hollander (b. 1929)
“But a man must keep an eye on his servants, if he would not have them rule him. Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world. But it is found that the machine unmans the user. What he gains in making cloth, he loses in general power.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)