Neurogastroenterology and Motility Program

For the gastrointestinal (GI) tract to function normally, the brain and gut send signals that trigger it to continue moving food along its path. This brain-gut connection forms the basis of neurogastroenterology as a field of medicine, and it’s key to understanding your child’s GI condition.

Motility disorders cause spasms or lack of motion anywhere along the GI tract. If your child has trouble digesting food or going to the bathroom, a motility disorder may be the cause.

At Phoenix Children’s, our motility experts want to help your child find a solution that works. We combine expertise, collaboration, state-of-the-art equipment and intent listening to give families clear guidance and education about ways to improve each child’s symptoms.

Our Neurogastroenterology and Motility program offers several clinics with highly specialized experts who can find the most effective treatment for your child. We want to give them the highest quality of life so they can focus on being a kid.

What Are Motility Disorders?

The GI tract contains several organs, including the esophagus, stomach, intestines, rectum and anus. These organs are made up of muscles and nerves that work together to digest food and remove waste (stool) from the body. The movement of food and waste along the GI tract is known as motility. Damage to GI muscles or nearby nerves can lead to a motility disorder, or a person can be born with it.

Our team of experts in the Neurogastroenterology and Motility Clinic includes pediatric gastroenterologists, pediatric colorectal surgeons, a neurologist and other medical professionals who specialize in treating these conditions. We provide a thorough evaluation, advanced testing and state-of-the-art treatments to bring your child comfort. We also coordinate referrals to other providers who can help, including psychologists, child life specialists and physical therapists.

Conditions of the colon and rectum often cause motility issues. Phoenix Children’s offers a multidisciplinary clinic for children with these colorectal conditions and motility disorders. Our clinic is the only one of its kind in Arizona – and one of few in the Southwest – for children who may need surgery to correct a problem in the GI tract.

Our providers spend time reviewing your child’s medical and surgical history, blood work and imaging test results before your first visit. By having a clear understanding of your child’s condition and treatments you’ve already tried, we can spend our time together focused on one goal: finding solutions that will work.

Experts in our clinic are trained and highly experienced in working with kids, particularly those who are worried or self-conscious about their digestive issues. We team up with psychology and child life specialists whenever they are needed to help relieve a child’s anxiety.

To ensure families know about all the many treatment options available, we consider these and other questions during each visit:

Is the existing diagnosis accurate and complete?
Could a psychologist improve the child’s mental health and lower anxiety about their condition?
Does the child’s medical condition need to be evaluated further?
What details could we learn from more testing?
Is there a different therapy we need to consider?
Should we try a different type of laxative or other medicine?
Are changes to the diet needed?
Could an enema or suppository bring much-needed relief?
Should we consider surgery as the best option?
Is there something missing from the care plan that could improve the child’s quality of life?

You’ll leave our clinic with a better awareness of your child’s condition and a solid understanding of next steps. We follow clinically proven methods to develop a treatment plan unique for each child. And by coordinating resources from our entire health system, we can ensure your child has access to the best inpatient, outpatient and follow-up care available.

Neuromodulation Therapy

Neuromodulation uses advanced technology to stimulate nerves in the body. This new form of non-invasive therapy uses electrical currents to affect muscles along the GI tract. For many patients, the lasting effects of neuromodulation treatments are life changing.
One device, called the IB-Stim, targets areas of the brain that process pain to reduce suffering of patients with a variety of motility disorders.

Our Urology-Motility Clinic offers advanced patient care to children with voiding and stooling disorders. During a visit to this clinic, you and your child will meet with a urologist and a gastroenterologist, as well as a rehab specialist trained in pelvic floor therapy.

Schedule a visit to this clinic if your child has urine and stool accidents and you’ve been struggling to find the right mix of medications and rehab therapies. During your visit, our experts will focus on adjusting the therapies you’ve tried in the past.

Multiple follow-up visits to this clinic ensure we are updating the treatment plan as often as needed to find a lasting solution that works for your child. Our motility program coordinator will help you every step of the way.

If you think your child could be helped by our program, speak with your child’s GI doctor to get a referral.

We know how tough it is to watch your child in pain. That’s why we’re dedicated to finding a solution for your family. Our Abdominal Pain Clinic is multidisciplinary. That means you and your child will see providers from a variety of medical specialty areas during each appointment.

Depending on your child’s specific needs, the visits could include these or other specialists:

Gastroenterology and motility specialist
Integrative medicine doctor
Nutritionist
Pain specialist/anesthesiologist
Psychologist

Using a holistic approach, the clinic team considers the whole child, not just a list of symptoms or diagnoses. Allowing your child to see such a wide variety of specialists in a single visit will save you multiple trips and get you answers faster. And the collaboration among our team ensures your child’s treatment plan is comprehensive. It will include details about medications, therapies and nutrition solutions.

Through this clinic, we provide medical treatments as well as dietary and mental health support. The treatment plan may include visceral manipulation, which is a gentle, hands-on therapy. It helps restore normal motility in many children.

A visit to this clinic can provide the quickest solution to finding relief for your child’s pain. If you think your child could benefit from our specialists, ask your child’s gastroenterologist to make a referral.