The definition of constipation varies with almost every individual. The medical community tends to define it as infrequent bowel movements, while non-medical persons consider constipation to be the passing of hard stools or straining to have a bowel movement.
The colon (large intestine) absorbs water while forming waste products (stool) from digested food. Muscle contractions in the colon push the stool toward the rectum. By the time stool reaches the rectum, it is solid because most of the water has been absorbed.
Hard, dry stools and constipation occur when the colon absorbs too much water away from the stool. This can happen because the muscle of the colon contracts too slowly causing the stool to move through too slowly. There are many causes of constipation and there are often many factors leading to the problem. The treatment of constipation includes lifestyle changes, as well as medication, and rarely, surgery.
This MediFocus Guide contains an extensive listing of citations and abstracts of recent journal articles that have been published about this condition in trustworthy medical journals. This is the same type of information that is available to physicians and other health care professionals. A partial selection of journal articles that are abstracted in this MediFocus Guide includes:
Slow transit constipation: a model of human gut dysmotility. Review of possible aetiologies. Neurogastroenterology & Motility. 2000
Interventions for treating constipation in pregnancy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews [computer file]. 2000
Functional bowel disorders in the geriatric patient: constipation, fecal impaction, and fecal incontinence. American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2000
Abdominal massage therapy for chronic constipation: A systematic review of controlled clinical trials. Forschende Komplementarmedizin. 1999
Constipation in the elderly. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine. 1999
Constipation: an approach to diagnosis, treatment, referral. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. 1999
Management of colorectal-anal dysfunction. Obstetrics & Gynecology Clinics of North America. 1998
Clinical significance and application of anorectal physiology. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology - Supplement. 1998
Constipation in the elderly. American Family Physician. 1998
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