Anatom3DThoracic wall
Paries thoracis · Hrudní stěna
Skeleton
Looks like
The wall of the chest: ribs, breastbone and thoracic spine with the muscles between the ribs, skin and fat around them.
What it does
Protects the heart and lungs and moves with every breath to draw air in and out.
Keeping it well
Chest wall pain that changes with pressing or moving is usually harmless; crushing central chest pain or breathlessness is an emergency.
Its parts
Related conditions
- Acromegaly
- Fractures
- Fragility fracture
- Frailty & falls in older age
- Gout
- Haemophilia & bleeding disorders
- Hyperparathyroidism
- Lyme disease
- Marfan syndrome & connective tissue disorders
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
- Osteomalacia & rickets
- Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
- Osteoporosis
- Paget's disease of bone
- Pleural effusion
- Pneumothorax
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Rheumatic fever & rheumatic heart disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Sarcoma
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Temporomandibular joint disorder
- Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
- Vitamin D deficiency