Fourth rib at a glance
- Also called
- Rib 4
- What it is
- The fourth rib. A typical rib.
- Location
- Part of the thoracic cage, curving from the fourth thoracic vertebra behind around the chest wall toward the front. A true rib.
- Function
- Protects the thoracic organs and, by moving at its vertebral joints, changes chest volume during breathing.
- Body system
- Skeletal · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA8148 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Typical rib: the head has two facets articulating with its own vertebra and the one above, and the tubercle articulates with the transverse process; the costal groove along the lower border protects the intercostal vessels and nerve.
- In males the nipple usually overlies the fourth intercostal space, just below this rib.
- Its cartilage joins the body of the sternum at a synovial sternocostal joint.
Structures next to the fourth rib
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Pulmonary artery · cardiovascular
- Superior pulmonary vein · cardiovascular
- Third rib · skeletal
- Fifth rib · skeletal
- Great cardiac vein · cardiovascular
- Superior lingular bronchial tree · respiratory
- Trunk of coronary artery · cardiovascular
- Pectoralis minor · muscular
- Main bronchus · respiratory
- Circumflex branch of coronary artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Fourth rib (FMA8148). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.