Where does it occur? Throughout your entire GI (digestive) tract! Lets start from the top:
Esophagus: Your esophagus is a long tube that goes from your throat to your stomach. It has two types of involuntary muscle contractions. One is vertical, so it pushes the food down, and the other is a circular wave that knocks all the food off of the walls of the esophagus to ensure that all the food makes it to the stomach.
Stomach: Your stomach's three involuntary muscle contractions are the most interesting. Two of its contractions are the same as the esophagus, vertical and horizontal. It has a third, interesting type though. Once the food gets pushed to the bottom of the stomach, a contraction occurs that literally throws the food back into the digestive juices to continue breaking it down. This process occurs until the food is fully broken down. Then it makes its way to the small and large intestine.
Small/Large intestine: The muscle contractions of your small and large intestine are very slow to allow absorption of all the nutrients in your food. Once food reaches the large intestine, a muscle contraction that lasts about a minute each time occurs about every 20 minutes to move the food further and further down. This is why it takes a day or two for food to make its way out of the body.
Hope this answered your question!
-Jennifer D.
swallowing
by peristalsis which is the rhythmic, involuntary contraction of the smooth muscles in the walls of digestive organs.
One example of involuntary muscles would be in the digestive system, where muscles in the stomach churn food.
Involuntary or smooth muscles.
Involuntary muscles are controlled by the medulla which is present in the hindbrain part , the involuntary act involve the movement of food in our oesophagus.
Muscles cause contraction. Contraction aides in moving the food along.
are propulsions, which moves food through the alimentary canal, includes swallowing, which is initiated voluntarily, and peristalsis, an involuntary process.involves alternate waves of contraction and relaxation of muscles in the organ walls.
Yes, involantary muscles move food through the intestinal tract.
You do not control peristalsis voluntarily or have any direct perception of the muscular exertions involved. You simply eat your food, and peristalsis happens. It is involuntary.
Intestines are lined with what are called smooth muscle tissue. These muscles differ primarily from the muscles attached, for example, to your joints in that their movement is rhythmic and involuntarily controlled. (The heart is another example of smooth muscle movement.) It is this rhythmic, involuntary contraction that moves food through the intestines.
Peristalsis is a symmetrical contraction of muscles which propagates in a wave down the muscular tube, more specifically the esophagus. In humans, peristalsis is found in the contraction of smooth muscles to propel contents through the digestive tract.In much of the gastrointestinal tract, smooth muscles contract in sequence to produce a peristaltic wave which forces a ball of food (called a bolus while in the esophagus and gastrointestinal tract and chyme in the stomach) along the gastrointestinal tract. Peristaltic movement is initiated by circular smooth muscles contracting behind the chewed material to prevent it from moving back into the mouth, followed by a contraction of longitudinal smooth muscles which pushes the digested food forward.
Peristalsis is the contraction of smooth muscles that cause food to move throughout the digestive tract.