RIBS protect some of the most important organs in the body, like our heart and lungs.
They are flexible so that we can breathe, but that makes them fragile. They are so delicate that you can fracture a rib by sneezing.
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How many ribs do humans have?
Humans have 24 ribs in total, 12 on each side. They are symmetrical so come in pairs.
The ribs mostly attach to the breast bone in front, and the backbones at the back.
All 12 pairs of ribs are collectively called our rib cage and there are three layers of muscle between the bones.
Some people, about five in every hundred, have more ribs, and others, about three in every hundred, have less.
Slightly more or less ribs doesn’t usually cause any problems.
A cracked rib usually repairs itself, but ribs that have actually broken need attention.
You can crack a rib by coughing a lot, but blunt trauma, like a road accident, is the most common cause of broken ribs.
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What is the myth of women having an extra rib?
The myth of women having an extra rib comes from a mash-up of a Bible story and old ideas about how we pass things on to our kids.
In the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, it says that God makes Eve using one of Adam’s ribs.
In Genesis chapter two and verses 21 and 22 it says: “So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.
“Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”
Over the years people have claimed that this means Adam had one less rib than Eve, and so men have one less rib than women.
However, the Bible doesn’t say how many ribs Adam had at the start. And as we all know, people don’t inherit and lose parts of their body in this way.
If a man lost a toe, for example, his children wouldn’t necessarily be born without the same toe he is missing.
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Do humans have floating ribs?
Yes, humans have two pairs of floating ribs, that’s four individual bones.
They are at the bottom of the rib cage and get their name because they join on to the backbones but are not joined on to the breast bone (sternum) at the front.
Above the floating ribs are three pairs of “false” ribs, which join to the backbones and in front to the ribs above them.
The top seven pairs of ribs are called “true” ribs, because they join the skeleton at both the breast bone and backbones.
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