Iliac Crest

by Greg Crowther

Many hikers in Washington state and all along on the west coast of the United States enjoy hiking the Pacific Crest trail. This is not a song about that.

CHORUS:
Iliac, iliac, iliac crest.
It's not a hike in the Pacific Northwest!
It's a feature of the pelvis, topping the hips,
With fascia and tendons anchored to its lips.

Certainly broad, not narrow.
A source of bone and marrow.
Easy enough to palpate
When L₄ you must locate.

CHORUS

• sheet music

Songs like this one can be used during class meetings and/or in homework assignments. Either way, the song will be most impactful if students DO something with it, as opposed to just listening.

An initial, simple follow-up activity could be to answer the study questions below. A more extensive interaction with the song might entail (A) learning to sing it, using an audio file and/or sheet music as a guide, and/or (B) illustrating it with pictures, bodily poses, and/or bodily movements. The latter activity could begin with students identifying the most important or most challenging content of the song, and deciding how to illustrate that particular content.

(1) The pelvis includes three different pairs of bones fused together. Which of these bones include the iliac crest?

(2) What are the lips of the iliac crest?

(3) Give an example of a muscle whose tendon attaches to the iliac crest.

(4) In what sense is the iliac crest a "source of bone and marrow"?

(5) What is L₄, and how does the iliac crest help you locate it?