Wednesday Wisdom: How Many Ribs Are in the Body?

Wednesday Wisdom: How Many Ribs Are in the Body?

How many ribs are in the human body? Do you know the answer? Are you counting them right now? Keep scrolling for the answer, and to read about how ribs help our bodily anatomy!

The Answer

There are 24 ribs in your body, with two sets of twelve. Ribs have an important function.  Much like our skull protects our brain from damage, ribs create a hard cage like structure to protect our squishy thoracic organs from being damaged. The organs that are protected by our ribs include our heart, lungs, diaphragm, spleen, liver and a little part of the pancreas. If these organs had no ribs covering them, they would be susceptible upon injury to internal bleeding, infection, and sepsis.

Ribs are made of bone, and connected to each other with cartilage. The bottom ribs are able to move, and do so when breathing occurs. Since our ribs have such a large job to do, we would like to keep them healthy. This can be achieved through exercise, quitting smoking, taking vitamins and supplements, and getting plenty of calcium.

Final Thoughts

Did you know the answer was 24 ribs? Have you ever broken a rib? Have you ever broken any bone in your body? Comment below! If you are interested in more medical trivia, check out our previous posts here.