Floating rib

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Floating rib
Image:Skeleton woman back.png
The four floating ribs (indicated with red arrows)
Image:Profil du tose féminin et du tose masculin d'aprèsThomson.gif
The six lower ribs on a woman (left) and a man. Note how small the four floating ribs are, especially on a woman.
Latin	costae fluctuantes, costae fluitantes
Dorlands/Elsevier	c_58/12262706

Floating ribs are four atypical ribs (two lowermost pairs, XI-XII) in the human ribcage. They are called so because they are attached to the vertebrae only, and not to the sternum or cartilage coming off of the sternum. Some people are missing one of the two pairs. Others have a third pair. Most, however, possess only two pairs. ^{[citation needed]}

Their position can be permanently altered by a form of body modification called tightlacing, which uses a corset to compress and move the ribs.

See also

• Eleventh rib
• Twelfth rib
• False ribs

Additional images

Anterior surface of sternum and costal cartilages.

Eleventh rib.

Twelfth rib.

External links

• Floating+ribs at eMedicine Dictionary

v • d • e Bones of torso
Sternum	Suprasternal notch, Manubrium, Sternal angle, Body of sternum, Xiphisternal joint, Xiphoid process
Rib	specific ribs (1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, false - 8-12, floating - 11-12) - parts (Angle, Tubercle, Costal groove, Neck, Head)
General vertebral structures	body of vertebra, vertebral arch (pedicle, lamina, vertebral notch), foramina (vertebral, intervertebral), processes (transverse, articular / zygapophysis, spinous)
Cervical vertebrae	C1 (anterior arch, posterior arch, lateral mass), C2 (dens), C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 anterior tubercle, posterior tubercle, foramen transversarium
Thoracic vertebrae	T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10, T11, T12 costal facets (superior, inferior, transverse)
Lumbar vertebrae	accessory process, mammillary process, L5
Sacrum	pelvic surface (anterior sacral foramina), dorsal surface (posterior sacral foramina, median sacral crest, medial sacral crest, lateral sacral crest), lateral surface (sacral tuberosity), base, sacral hiatus - presacral space - sacral promontory - sacral canal - ala of sacrum - sacrovertebral angle

Template:Corsetry

Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content

Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .