Motility Conditions We Treat

If you’ve spent years trying to find the reason behind constipation, unexplained weight loss or heartburn, your search ends here. The Center for Motility Disorders at Henry Ford Health provides specialized testing and treatment for conditions that affect how your digestive tract functions. We provide the answers and personalized care you need to start living your life again.

GI motility disorder treatment: Why choose Henry Ford?

At our advanced Center for Motility Disorders, you’ll find:

• Care for complex conditions: We are a top referral center in the region for complex motility cases. Our experts are trusted throughout Michigan and the U.S. to care for esophageal dysmotility, treatment-resistant gastroparesis, pelvic floor dysfunction and other challenging disorders.
• Clinical trials for motility disorders: We participate in ongoing clinical trials to investigate newer, better ways to diagnose and treat motility disorders. Your gastroenterologist can tell you if you’re a candidate for any current trials.
• Collaborative approach: Our team includes fellowship-trained gastroenterologists with specialized expertise in motility disorders. They work alongside therapeutic endoscopists, registered dietitians, surgeons, swallowing therapists, pelvic floor physical therapists, a GI health psychologist and other providers at Henry Ford to build your treatment plan. You have access to all the care you need from one source.

Care for upper and lower GI motility disorders

Motility disorders affect the way you digest food. The muscles and nerves in your gut don’t work properly, so food moves through your digestive tract too slowly or too quickly. We treat all types of motility problems in your upper and lower GI tract.

Esophageal dysmotility and swallowing disorders

Your esophagus is the tube where food passes from your throat to your stomach. Problems with esophageal nerves and muscles can prevent food from moving through your digestive tract as it should. This condition is called esophageal dysmotility.

We treat all esophageal disorders, including:

• Treatment-resistant gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• Dysphagia and achalasia
• Zenker’s diverticula

Gastric (stomach) dysmotility

Your stomach produces enzymes that break food down before it moves into your small intestine. But sometimes nerve damage or other diseases affect this part of digestion so that food moves into your small intestine too quickly or remains in your stomach too long.

The most common stomach problems we treat include:

• Dumping syndrome (rapid gastric emptying)
• Functional dyspepsia (chronic stomach burning or fullness)
• Gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying)

Intestinal dysmotility

Food travels from your stomach through your small and large intestine (bowel) before it leaves your body as waste. Intestinal dysmotility can lead to various symptoms, from chronic constipation and bloating to frequent diarrhea.

Types of lower GI motility issues we treat include:

• Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction
• Fecal incontinence
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Pelvic floor dysfunction
• Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)