Proper modeling of the human trunk requires a quantitative assessment of the stiffness of the costovertebral joints.

Twelve samples (adjacent thoracic vertebrae and one rib segment) were harvested from three subjects. The ribs were loaded in the cranial–caudal direction, the ventral–dorsal direction and in torsion around the cervical rib axis. The force applied to and the displacement of the loading point on the rib were measured and used to determine the moment–angle responses. Characteristic average curves and boundary curves containing the dataset were developed.

The torsion response presented a range of motion—defined as the change in the angle for an applied moment varying from −0.1 to 0.1 N m—of 16.9 ± 6.8° which is more than three times the range in cranial–caudal flexion and five times the range in ventral–dorsal flexion. Statistical tests showed a significant difference between these ranges of motion. Significant inter-subject variability was observed for the cranial–caudal flexion (p < 0.05) while no intra-subject variability appeared. The characteristic moment–angle responses of the joints were well represented by third order polynomials (R² > 0.9).

This study expands and supplements the limited data available in the literature. Furthermore, it provides biomechanical data (closed-form moment–angle functions) that can be directly integrated into spine-ribcage models.