Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Peristalsis?SymptomsTypesCausesTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Peristalsis?
Symptoms
Types
Causes
Treatment
Gastrointestinal motility disorders are a group of medical conditions that cause problems withperistalsis(the muscular contractions that move food through the digestive tract). When this happens, you can experience a variety of symptoms depending on which part of the digestive tract is affected. These include heartburn, regurgitation, choking, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation.
Gastrointestinal motility can be impaired due to:
There are many conditions that can lead to one or both of these problems.
This article explains why people experience peristalsis problems and describes the different medical conditions that fall under the umbrella of gastrointestinal motility disorders. It also describes the various treatments and lifestyle changes that can help relieve symptoms.
Nils Hendrik Mueller / Cultura / Getty Images
What Is Gastric Motility?
With motility disorders, this process can happen more quickly or slowly than normal. The disruption of the normal digestive process can cause symptoms, both minor and severe.
Symptoms of Peristalsis Problems
Gastrointestinal motility disorders may cause a wide range of symptoms, depending on the nature and location of the motility disruption, including:
Types of Motility Disorders
Here are six common and uncommon conditions associated with gastrointestinal motility dysfunction:
Gastroparesis
Gastroparesis, also known as delayed gastric emptying, occurs when the stomach is slow in emptying itself.
Your stomach muscles govern the movement of partly digested food through into the small intestine. When the nerves that control the stomach muscles are damaged, food will move too slowly, causing nausea, burping, bloating, heartburn, indigestion, regurgitation, or vomiting.
Achalasia
Achalasiais the dysfunction of the ring of muscle at the bottom of your esophagus through which food enters the stomach, called thelower esophageal sphincter (LES). When you have achalasia, the LES fails to relax during swallowing so food doesn’t move as easily in the esophagus.
Symptoms include chest pain, regurgitation, heartburn, and difficulty swallowing.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)is a chronic disorder of the digestive tract that occurs when the LES is not closing properly. This allows stomach acid to backflow into the esophagus, causing heartburn, chest pain, nausea, and an acid taste in the mouth.
Acid reflux and heartburn occurring more than twice a week may indicate GERD. In some cases, the symptoms are so severe that they mimic those of a heart attack.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)is a functional digestive condition, which means that it affects how your digestive system works but doesn’t damage the digestive organs themselves.
When you have IBS, your digestive motility moves either too quickly or too slowly, leading to diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D),constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C), or mixed-type IBS (IBD-M). Other symptoms include stomach pain, rectal pain, cramping, nausea, bloating, and gas.
Hirschsprung’s Disease
Hirschsprung’s diseaseis a congenital disorder in which the disruption of peristalsis causes a blockage in the large intestine. The condition is most common in younger boys and is often seen with other congenital disorders, such as Down syndrome.
Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction
Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO) is a rare condition that causes symptoms mimicking abowel obstruction. But with CIPO, no blockage of any kind is present. In essence, peristalsis simply stops.
What Causes Peristalsis Problems?
In many cases, gastric motility disorders areidiopathic, meaning there is no known cause. However, there are several risk factors associated with peristalsis problems in adults and children.
Underlying Conditions
Gastric motility problems are closely linked to diseases that either damage nerves or impair the production of hormones involved in peristalsis, such as:
Genetics
Genes are thought to play a role in certain gastric motility disorders, such as GERD, Hirschsprung’s disease, and CIP.Autoimmune diseases associated with motility dysfunction can also be genetic.
Medications
Opioid pain medicationssuch as hydrocodone and oxycodone can slow gastric motility and cause constipation. It is thought that as many as 81% of people who take opioids experience constipation.
How Are Gastric Motility Disorders Treated?
Different gastric motility disorders are treated differently. Treatment options range from diet and lifestyle changes to medications and surgery.
Lifestyle
Maintaining a healthy diet and making small changes to your eating habits can help manage many different gastric motility disorders. This includes eating smaller meals throughout the day to avoid overtaxing the digestive tract and eating softer foods like:
Getting regular aerobic exercise is thought to improve gastrointestinal motility in some people. It’s commonly recommended to help treat and prevent constipation associated with IBS-C.
Quitting cigarettes also helps as it reduces the generalized inflammation of the digestive tract which, in turn, can make the stomach and intestines more sensitive to food triggers.
Medications commonly used to treat gastric motility disorders include:
Surgery
If conservative treatments fail to improve your symptoms, yourgastroenterologistmay recommend surgery specific to the condition you have.
Options include:
15 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Symptoms & causes of gastroparesis.Jeon HH, Kim JH, Youn YH, Park H, Conklin JL.Clinical characteristics of patients with untreated achalasia.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2017;23(3):378-384. doi:10.5056/jnm16177National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Definition and facts for GERD.Enck P, Aziz Q, Barbara G, et al.Irritable bowel syndrome.Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16014. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.14Tilghman JM, Ling AY, Turner TN, et al.Molecular genetic anatomy and risk profile of Hirschsprung’s disease.N Engl J Med. 2019;380(15):1421-1432. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1706594International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Intestinal pseudo-obstruction.Krishnasamy S, Abell TL.Diabetic gastroparesis: Principles and current trends in management.Diabetes Ther. 2018;9(Suppl 1):1-42. doi:10.1007/s13300-018-0454-9Association of Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Overview of gastroparesis.Fikree A.Scleroderma and other connective tissue disorders.Medicine. 2019;47(7):460-465. doi:10.1016/j.mpmed.2019.04.012Camilleri, M.Gastrointestinal motility orders in neurologic disease.Journal of Clinical Investigation. Feb.15, 2021. doi:10.1172/JCI143771Patil AD.Link between hypothyroidism and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.Indian J Endocr Metab2014;18:307-9. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.131155Gisser JM, Gariepy CE.Genetics of motility disorders: Gastroesophageal reflux, triple A syndrome, Hirschsprung disease, and chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.Pediatric Neurogastroenterology. 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43268-7_18Andresen V, Banerji V, Hall G, Lass A, Emmanuel AV.The patient burden of opioid-induced constipation: New insights from a large, multinational survey in five European countries.United European Gastroenterol J. 2018;6(8):1254-1266. doi:10.1177/2050640618786145Kim YS, Song BK, Oh JS, Woo SS.Aerobic exercise improves gastrointestinal motility in psychiatric inpatients.World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20(30):10577-10584. doi:10.3748/wjg.v20.i30.10577
15 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Symptoms & causes of gastroparesis.Jeon HH, Kim JH, Youn YH, Park H, Conklin JL.Clinical characteristics of patients with untreated achalasia.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2017;23(3):378-384. doi:10.5056/jnm16177National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Definition and facts for GERD.Enck P, Aziz Q, Barbara G, et al.Irritable bowel syndrome.Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16014. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.14Tilghman JM, Ling AY, Turner TN, et al.Molecular genetic anatomy and risk profile of Hirschsprung’s disease.N Engl J Med. 2019;380(15):1421-1432. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1706594International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Intestinal pseudo-obstruction.Krishnasamy S, Abell TL.Diabetic gastroparesis: Principles and current trends in management.Diabetes Ther. 2018;9(Suppl 1):1-42. doi:10.1007/s13300-018-0454-9Association of Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Overview of gastroparesis.Fikree A.Scleroderma and other connective tissue disorders.Medicine. 2019;47(7):460-465. doi:10.1016/j.mpmed.2019.04.012Camilleri, M.Gastrointestinal motility orders in neurologic disease.Journal of Clinical Investigation. Feb.15, 2021. doi:10.1172/JCI143771Patil AD.Link between hypothyroidism and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.Indian J Endocr Metab2014;18:307-9. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.131155Gisser JM, Gariepy CE.Genetics of motility disorders: Gastroesophageal reflux, triple A syndrome, Hirschsprung disease, and chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.Pediatric Neurogastroenterology. 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43268-7_18Andresen V, Banerji V, Hall G, Lass A, Emmanuel AV.The patient burden of opioid-induced constipation: New insights from a large, multinational survey in five European countries.United European Gastroenterol J. 2018;6(8):1254-1266. doi:10.1177/2050640618786145Kim YS, Song BK, Oh JS, Woo SS.Aerobic exercise improves gastrointestinal motility in psychiatric inpatients.World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20(30):10577-10584. doi:10.3748/wjg.v20.i30.10577
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Symptoms & causes of gastroparesis.Jeon HH, Kim JH, Youn YH, Park H, Conklin JL.Clinical characteristics of patients with untreated achalasia.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2017;23(3):378-384. doi:10.5056/jnm16177National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Definition and facts for GERD.Enck P, Aziz Q, Barbara G, et al.Irritable bowel syndrome.Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16014. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.14Tilghman JM, Ling AY, Turner TN, et al.Molecular genetic anatomy and risk profile of Hirschsprung’s disease.N Engl J Med. 2019;380(15):1421-1432. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1706594International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Intestinal pseudo-obstruction.Krishnasamy S, Abell TL.Diabetic gastroparesis: Principles and current trends in management.Diabetes Ther. 2018;9(Suppl 1):1-42. doi:10.1007/s13300-018-0454-9Association of Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Overview of gastroparesis.Fikree A.Scleroderma and other connective tissue disorders.Medicine. 2019;47(7):460-465. doi:10.1016/j.mpmed.2019.04.012Camilleri, M.Gastrointestinal motility orders in neurologic disease.Journal of Clinical Investigation. Feb.15, 2021. doi:10.1172/JCI143771Patil AD.Link between hypothyroidism and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.Indian J Endocr Metab2014;18:307-9. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.131155Gisser JM, Gariepy CE.Genetics of motility disorders: Gastroesophageal reflux, triple A syndrome, Hirschsprung disease, and chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.Pediatric Neurogastroenterology. 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43268-7_18Andresen V, Banerji V, Hall G, Lass A, Emmanuel AV.The patient burden of opioid-induced constipation: New insights from a large, multinational survey in five European countries.United European Gastroenterol J. 2018;6(8):1254-1266. doi:10.1177/2050640618786145Kim YS, Song BK, Oh JS, Woo SS.Aerobic exercise improves gastrointestinal motility in psychiatric inpatients.World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20(30):10577-10584. doi:10.3748/wjg.v20.i30.10577
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Symptoms & causes of gastroparesis.
Jeon HH, Kim JH, Youn YH, Park H, Conklin JL.Clinical characteristics of patients with untreated achalasia.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2017;23(3):378-384. doi:10.5056/jnm16177
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Definition and facts for GERD.
Enck P, Aziz Q, Barbara G, et al.Irritable bowel syndrome.Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16014. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.14
Tilghman JM, Ling AY, Turner TN, et al.Molecular genetic anatomy and risk profile of Hirschsprung’s disease.N Engl J Med. 2019;380(15):1421-1432. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1706594
International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Intestinal pseudo-obstruction.
Krishnasamy S, Abell TL.Diabetic gastroparesis: Principles and current trends in management.Diabetes Ther. 2018;9(Suppl 1):1-42. doi:10.1007/s13300-018-0454-9
Association of Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders.Overview of gastroparesis.
Fikree A.Scleroderma and other connective tissue disorders.Medicine. 2019;47(7):460-465. doi:10.1016/j.mpmed.2019.04.012
Camilleri, M.Gastrointestinal motility orders in neurologic disease.Journal of Clinical Investigation. Feb.15, 2021. doi:10.1172/JCI143771
Patil AD.Link between hypothyroidism and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.Indian J Endocr Metab2014;18:307-9. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.131155
Gisser JM, Gariepy CE.Genetics of motility disorders: Gastroesophageal reflux, triple A syndrome, Hirschsprung disease, and chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.Pediatric Neurogastroenterology. 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43268-7_18
Andresen V, Banerji V, Hall G, Lass A, Emmanuel AV.The patient burden of opioid-induced constipation: New insights from a large, multinational survey in five European countries.United European Gastroenterol J. 2018;6(8):1254-1266. doi:10.1177/2050640618786145
Kim YS, Song BK, Oh JS, Woo SS.Aerobic exercise improves gastrointestinal motility in psychiatric inpatients.World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20(30):10577-10584. doi:10.3748/wjg.v20.i30.10577
Meet Our Medical Expert Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
What is your feedback?
