Nerve · Chest

Intercostal nerves

Nervi intercostales

The intercostal nerves are the thoracic spinal nerves running forward in the grooves under each rib. Unlike the nerves of the limbs they never form a plexus — each stays in its own band, which is why chest and abdominal wall sensation maps out in neat stripes and why irritation of one nerve gives a band of pain that follows a single rib around from the back to the front. They supply the intercostal muscles that move the ribs in breathing, and the lower ones run on past the ribs to supply the abdominal wall.