Identifying Intercostal Muscles (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Biology)

Identifying Intercostal Muscles: Extended

Extended Tier Only

• Muscles are only able to pull on bones, not push on them

• This means that there must be two sets of intercostal muscles; one to pull the rib cage up and another set to pull it down

• One set of intercostal muscles is found on the outside of the ribcage (the external intercostal muscles)

• The other set is found on the inside of the rib cage (the internal intercostal muscles)

There are 2 sets of intercostal muscles: the external, on the outside of the rib cage, and the internal, on the inside of the rib cage