Curated Content
Published at Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
Bowel management begins with the digestive process. The bowel is a part of the entire gastrointestinal (GI) system. Therefore, changes or adjustments to any part of the system will affect bowel function. When thinking about effective bowel management, the complete digestive system should be reviewed.
Neurogenic Bowel
One of the main concerns for individuals with injury or disease affecting motor nerves (nerves for movement) is neurogenic bowel. This is a condition where the nerves of the body are not communicating effectively to and from the brain with the bowel. There can be a complete nerve transmission malfunction with no messages passing or just partial transmission of messages. Therefore, bowel management is essential for health.
In the nervous system, communication occurs by motor nerves carrying messages from the brain to the body for movement. Sensory nerves carry messages of sensation from the body to the brain.
Injury to the motor nerves creates a disruption resulting in neurogenic bowel. The source of injury, brain, spinal cord, or other neurological condition provides an indication of the type of neurogenic bowel function.