Library · Disease
Constipation
Make it clearer
Constipation is having bowel movements that are hard to pass and few and far between: as a benchmark, three times a week or less.
There is no single cause behind it. Several things add up, and they are still not fully understood: the colon moving less, that is, having less motility; stool taking longer to travel through it; the rectum doing a poorer job of signaling that something is there; and the muscles of the pelvic floor, the ones that support everything from below and have to relax during a bowel movement, not coordinating well. It is a conveyor belt that moves slowly and an exit that does not open in time.
There is a very common type, in children and in adults, called functional constipation: bowel movements are infrequent and difficult, but no structural or organic cause is found to explain it, meaning nothing is broken or blocked.
In brief
Constipation is a pattern of difficult, infrequent bowel movements, generally three or fewer per week.
Its causes are many and not fully understood: reduced colon motility, slow stool transit, altered rectal sensation and poor pelvic floor coordination all play a part.
It is a conveyor belt that moves slowly and an exit that does not open in time.
Functional constipation, a common subtype in children and adults, follows this pattern with no obvious structural or organic cause.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingConstipation, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated