Everything You Need to Know About Having a Wide Rib Cage

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Plus, how to shrink (or embrace) your wide ribs
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Do you have a wide rib cage? Most of the time your rib cage widens naturally as you grow into an adult, but sometimes it can be enhanced by things like poor posture and pregnancy. In this article, you'll learn all about how to tell if you have a wide rib cage, what might have caused it, and whether you can slim it down. We'll also explore how influencers and celebrities are embracing this unique body type (and why you should, too!).

Wide Rib Cage at a Glance

A wide rib cage is a perfectly normal rib structure that many people have. Sometimes it looks wide due to rib flare, which is when your lower ribs flare outward. While you can't use surgery to shrink your rib cage, you may be able to fix rib flare with exercise and breathing. You can also embrace your wide rib cage!

Section 1 of 7:

How to Know If You Have a Wide Rib Cage

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  1. Take off your clothes so you're just wearing underwear and look at yourself from the front in a full-length mirror. Most people with wide rib cages have broad shoulders and a thick chest or bust (which is the area of the torso between the waist and the neck). Some women may have narrow waists, but they're more likely to be just as wide or only slightly thinner than the rib cage. Your hips may also be the same width or narrower than your ribs (they can also be wider on some women, too).
    • If you have a narrow rib cage, your bust and waist are usually small and don't noticeably pro
    • Apple, rectangular, and hourglass shapes can all have wide ribs.
  2. Turn to the side and look at your torso's profile in a mirror. Notice if the bottom of your rib cage protrudes over your stomach while standing at rest. If so, that could be another good sign you have a wider-than-normal rib cage.
    • Your rib cage can also stick out over your stomach if you're very thin.
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Section 2 of 7:

What Causes a Wide Rib Cage

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  1. It's perfectly normal to have a wide rib cage instead of a narrow one. For most people, there aren't any underlying causes or health issues to be concerned about. It's just another body type that millions of people have and live with happily!
  2. If your rib cage is flared at the bottom or on just one side but not the other, you may simply have poor posture. Your ribs can stick out if you don't make a habit of sitting or standing up straight. Breathing shallowly and not taking the time for deeper breaths is also a common factor. [1] Unless your flared ribs are making it harder for you to breathe or causing you pain, though, they're nothing to worry about!
  3. When your abdominal muscles are strong, they help tilt your rib cage downward so it doesn't flare outward. If these muscles have grown weak or atrophied, your ribs may protrude more to one or both sides of your torso than normal. If this is what's causing your ribs to appear wider, it can often be fixed simply by exercising your core. [2]
    • Muscles often weaken naturally with age, so many older people with a flared rib could have this problem.
  4. During pregnancy, the body has to make room for the growing baby. During that process, the diaphragm gets moved upward and outward. [3] The result is that the ribs widen slightly as if you were constantly inhaling (even though you feel you're still breathing normally). Breathing exercises can reactivate your diaphragm and bring you relief. [4]
  5. For example, people who have barrel chests have significantly wider, rounder rib cages than normal. This condition is usually caused by the lungs over-inflating and forcing the rib cage stay open for long stretches of time, which they often do in a disease like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). [5]
    • Traumatic injuries like untreated rib fractures can also cause ribs to look slightly wider over time. [6] Additionally, people with scoliosis – a disease that causes the spine and ribs to curve unnaturally – may notice their ribs looking wider than normal because of the way they protrude from their torso. [7]
    • In rare cases, some children are born with a birth defect called pectus carinatum where their breastbone and ribs stick out. This can make them look like their rib cages are wider than normal. [8]
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Section 3 of 7:

Can you get wide rib cage surgery?

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  1. Your ribs and rib cage must stay the way they are; there are no surgical procedures that can shrink down this part of your body. Sometimes, though, if your ribs are flared out, you can turn them back in with breathing exercises and by working out your abdominal muscles.
Section 4 of 7:

How to Shrink a Wide Rib Cage

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  1. Hold your shoulders back instead of rounded and your torso straight and tall. Keep your head level and your neck straight (unless, of course, you need to look up or down at something for a few seconds). Finally, pull your stomach in toward you without sucking in too hard; your goal isn't to look skinnier but to stack your core. [9] Practicing these basic positions will help your rib cage get back into its proper place.
  2. If your ribs look wider because of a flare at the bottom, you may be able to gently move your rib cage back into its proper position by strengthening your core . Your core includes your abdominal muscles, which are responsible for tilting your rib cage down into a non-flared position. When they're strong again, they should be able to support your rib cage again and fix the wide look.
  3. Breathing exercises can do wonders for realigning your diaphragm and ribs. Try diaphragmatic breathing, where you breathe in and out gently through your nose and imagine a beach ball resting in your belly. As you inhale, imagine filling up the beach ball, expanding it so your belly and rib cage push outward. Then, on every exhale, imagine the air whooshing out of the beach ball and allow all your core and pelvic muscles to completely relax. [10]
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Section 5 of 7:

Why People Are Embracing Wide Rib Cages

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  1. Worldwide, women are often held to unrealistic beauty standards. One of those standards is a slim torso with a defined waist. Rather than feeling bad about their wide rib cages, however, many female social media influencers and models are showing off their bare midriffs in selfies and short videos. They're choosing to celebrate their body type as unique and beautiful instead of trying to change it for likes and clicks.
    • Sara Puhto (@saggysara on Instagram) made an "appreciation post" for her wide rib cage in July 2021 while she was pregnant. In the post's caption, she wrote, "Don’t let articles or anyone, including yourself, make you feel bad about your body… We are all unique and have different bodies."
    • Autumn (@au.tu.mn888 on TikTok) gushed about figuring out how to dress to flatter her wide rib cage in a video from August 2023 . The text on the TikTok reads, "Me after figuring out how to properly style my wide ribcage" and features a sound by makeup artist James Charles saying, "Oh my God!" over and over.
    • Jacquie Leal (@jacquie.lm on Instagram) posted a Reel in April 2024 advising women with wide rib cages which clothes will look best on them. She suggests opting for off-the-shoulder, wrap, and V-neck necklines and avoiding square, boxy-tops.
Section 6 of 7:

Female Celebrities with Wide Rib Cages

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  1. 1
    Kim Kardashian Kim Kardashian is one of the stars of the hit reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians , an influencer, and the founder of the shapewear brand SKIMS – not to mention a prominent figure in the fashion and beauty world! Her rib cage is naturally wide and her waist is thick. Her hips are also wide (although many people speculate she enlarged them with plastic surgery), which gives her more of an hourglass shape.
  2. 2
    Margot Robbie Margot Robbie is a famous actress best known for her role as Barbie in the 2023 blockbuster film of the same name and the irrepressible Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad . Her rib cage and waist are both wide, the sides of her torso are straight, and her hips are narrow.
  3. 3
    Florence Pugh You may have seen Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan in Dune Part 2 , Amy March in Little Women , or Yelena Belova in Black Widow . She's also a great example of a woman with wide ribs, a short torso, and a body shape that's more square than hourglass.
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Section 7 of 7:

Bottom Line

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  1. There's nothing wrong with you that needs to be "fixed" – your wide rib cage is just another natural part of your body! Of course, if your wide rib cage is making it harder for you to breathe or sit comfortably, it may be a good idea to see a doctor or a physical therapist to discuss potential treatment options. Otherwise, you don't have to change your body to meet unrealistic body standards. You're beautiful just the way you are!

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      References

      1. ↑ https://physioed.com/flared-ribs/
      2. ↑ https://elevatephysio.com.sg/flared-ribs-how-to-fix/
      3. ↑ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7416543/
      4. ↑ https://drmaehughes.com/2024/06/03/wider-ribs-after-kids-everything-you-need-to-know-about-rib-flare/
      5. ↑ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6330798/
      6. ↑ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7223740/
      7. ↑ https://rad.washington.edu/about-us/academic-sections/musculoskeletal-radiology/teaching-materials/online-musculoskeletal-radiology-book/scoliosis/
      8. ↑ https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions/chest-wall-deformities
      9. ↑ https://medlineplus.gov/guidetogoodposture.html
      1. ↑ https://www.emersonhospital.org/clinical-services/physical-rehabilitation-sports-medicine/specialty-therapies/pelvic-health/early-postpartum-exercise-guidelines

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