Expansion
Median over the aorta, medial over psoas major, lateral over quadratus lumborum
Expansion
- Median arcuate ligament - joins the two crura across the front of the aorta at T12
- Medial arcuate ligament - arches over psoas major
- Lateral arcuate ligament - arches over quadratus lumborum
The order is easy if you move outwards from the midline and remember the muscles in the same order they lie on the posterior abdominal wall.
The sympathetic trunk passes behind the medial arcuate ligament to enter the abdomen. A low-lying median arcuate ligament can compress the coeliac trunk, producing the median arcuate ligament syndrome of postprandial epigastric pain.