It is estimated that 1 in 50 people have an extra rib. 

The standard rib-count on a human is 12 pairs.  

Ribs attach to your spine. The top 7 pairs are called “true ribs”.  They attach to your sternum (the bone right in the middle of the chest).  

You have “false ribs” too. They are the next three down your spine and they attach to the last pair of “true ribs”. 

Finally, you have what are called “floating ribs”.  They don’t actually “float around”…but they are just attached to the spine. 

In the same way that a “shark-proof cage” protects the diver from the jaws of a shark, the rib-cage has the important function of protecting our vital organs – surrounding our lungs, liver and heart.  

Despite their function, ribs can be quite fragile.  They are often broken during car accidents, sports and on very rare occasions, violent sneezes.

Source:  Kidshealth

Tags: false ribs, floating ribs, how many ribs, rib cage, ribcage, true ribs

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 at 14:29 and is filed under General Health, Physical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.