Peristalsis is the wavelike movement of muscles that move food through your gastrointestinal tract. The process of digestion begins with chewing and mixing the food with saliva. From there, the epiglottis opens up to deposit a hunk of chewed food (called bolus) into your esophagus – this is the tube that runs from your mouth to your stomach. Since the esophagus is so skinny, the muscles along it must expand and contract in order to move food down. In this activity we will examine that process.
Please login or register to read the rest of this content.
That is certainly a scary moment. Usually there’s a muscle (upper esophageal sphincter) that relaxes, allowing food to move into the esophagus. Sometimes, food get can stuck in the esophagus that makes it feel like choking in the throat or even the chest.
If a child were to choke on a hotdog (at age four this was me); where in the throat would the hotdog be caught? -In the esophagus entrance or the trap door of the epiglottis? And why does something stuck there hinder breathing?