Anatom3DRight eighth rib
Costa octava dextra · Pravé osmé žebro
Skeleton
Looks like
A false rib: its cartilage joins the cartilage above rather than the breastbone, forming part of the lower rib margin.
What it does
Protects the liver on the right, the stomach and spleen on the left, and helps shape the lower chest.
Keeping it well
Lower rib fractures on the left can injure the spleen, on the right the liver; dizziness or belly pain after a blow needs urgent care.
Related conditions
- Acromegaly
- Fractures
- Fragility fracture
- Frailty & falls in older age
- Hyperparathyroidism
- Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
- Osteomalacia & rickets
- Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
- Osteoporosis
- Paget's disease of bone
- Pleural effusion
- Pneumothorax
- Sarcoma
- Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
- Vitamin D deficiency