What is constipation?

What is constipation?

• A. Increase motility
• B. Decrease motility
• C. Inflammation
• D. Ulceration

Answer: (B)

Constipation stems from slowed movement through the digestive tract, which reduces the rate at which stool travels to the end of the colon and out of the body. When colonic motility is decreased, the stool spends more time in the colon, water is reabsorbed more extensively, and the resulting stool becomes hard, dry, and difficult to pass. This is why decreased motility is the best explanation for constipation. If motility were increased, stool would move through the colon faster, leaving less time for water absorption and typically producing loose or more frequent stools rather than hard, difficult-to-pass ones. Inflammation or ulceration describes tissue-level pathology rather than a change in stool transit speed; they can accompany various GI conditions but do not define constipation.

Constipation stems from slowed movement through the digestive tract, which reduces the rate at which stool travels to the end of the colon and out of the body. When colonic motility is decreased, the stool spends more time in the colon, water is reabsorbed more extensively, and the resulting stool becomes hard, dry, and difficult to pass. This is why decreased motility is the best explanation for constipation.

If motility were increased, stool would move through the colon faster, leaving less time for water absorption and typically producing loose or more frequent stools rather than hard, difficult-to-pass ones. Inflammation or ulceration describes tissue-level pathology rather than a change in stool transit speed; they can accompany various GI conditions but do not define constipation.