What Causes Motility Disorders?
Motility disorders occur when the nerves in the gastrointestinal tract are missing, immature, or damaged by infections or toxins. Disorders can also occur when the nerves are adversely influenced by chemical substances from inside the body (such as the chemicals released during an inflammation caused by Crohn’s disease), or outside the body (such as opiates given for pain). In this case, the nerves and muscles of the GI tract do not function in a strong or coordinated fashion. Motility disorders may also occur when the GI muscles are diseased – either from a genetic defect (such as some forms of muscular dystrophy) or an acquired disorder (such as progressive systemic sclerosis and amyloidosis). In this case, the coordinated contractions produced by the GI muscles are too weak to move the intestinal contents. Symptoms soon arise when there are abnormalities in the strength or coordination of contractions. Sometimes the symptoms are accompanied by evidence of growth failure or tissue da
