Skip to main content
Thorax logoLink to Thorax
. 1969 Jul;24(4):407–414. doi: 10.1136/thx.24.4.407

Rib movement in health, kyphoscoliosis, and ankylosing spondylitis

J Jordanoglou 1,1
PMCID: PMC472003  PMID: 5795643

Abstract

Costal movement was defined on living subjects by determining the spatial vectors along the ribs that are produced during inspiration. The determination of these vectors was achieved with an instrument specially designed for this purpose. Rib movement was studied on 61 ribs in 10 normal subjects and on 35 ribs in six patients suffering from kyphoscoliosis and ankylosing spondylitis. In normal subjects during smooth inspiration all the ribs studied, which ranged from the 2nd to the 9th, rotated round a single axis. The direction of the inspiratory movement of the ribs was oblique, upward, outward, and forward, and symmetrical in both hemithoraces. This direction is compatible with rotation around the rib-neck axis but not with other axes that have been postulated. In ankylosing spondylitis and in kyphoscoliosis the magnitude of rib movement was reduced but movement still took place solely around the rib-neck axis. In the patients with kyphoscoliosis the direction of this movement was altered due to a change in the position of the rib neck.

Full text

PDF
407

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Agostoni E., Mognoni P. Deformation of the chest wall during breathing efforts. J Appl Physiol. 1966 Nov;21(6):1827–1832. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1966.21.6.1827. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Dally J F. An Inquiry into the Physiological Mechanism of Respiration, with Especial Reference to the Movements of the Vertebral Column and Diaphragm. J Anat Physiol. 1908 Oct;43(Pt 1):93–114. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. WADE O. L. Movements of the thoracic cage and diaphragm in respiration. J Physiol. 1954 May 28;124(2):193–212. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1954.sp005099. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Thorax are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES