ANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -After you swallow, peristalsis pushes the food down your esophagus into your stomach.

Detailed explanation-2: -Peristalsis squeezes your esophageal muscles from top to bottom. This pushes food and liquid along. If you could see peristalsis, it would look like a wave passing down your esophagus. To keep food and liquids moving in the right direction, your digestive tract has special muscles along its course called sphincters.

Detailed explanation-3: -Peristalsis is a series of wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract. It starts in the esophagus where strong wave-like motions of the smooth muscle move balls of swallowed food to the stomach.

Detailed explanation-4: -Waves of muscle contractions called peristalsis (per-uh-STALL-sus) force food down through the esophagus to the stomach. A person usually isn’t aware of the muscle movements that push food through the digestive tract.