Filed Under: City Beautiful, Florida, nicknames, Orlando, Tollando (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) We live in a city that has many nicknames and letâs face it, with everything that happens here, itâs pretty easy to come up with new nicknames.
Intercostal muscles are several groups of muscles that run between the ribs, and help form and move the chest wall. The intercostal muscles are mainly involved in the mechanical aspect of breathing.These muscles help expand and shrink the size of the chest cavity to facilitate breathing. The external intercostals are responsible for the elevation of the ribs and bending them more open, thus expanding the transverse dimensions of the thoracic cavity. 2  Internal intercostal muscles aid in forced expiration (quiet expiration is a passive process).
The external intercostal muscles help to form the chest wall and move the ribs upward, increasing the thoracic cavity space, during the act of inspiration. The external intercostal muscles are innervated by the intercostal nerves. Conditions that can afflict the external intercostal muscles include costochondritis, pleurisy, myalga, repetitive strain injury, tears, strains, myopathy, atrophy, infectious myositis, neuromuscular diseases, lacerations and contusions.