Constipation is difficulty emptying your bowels. Fecal impaction is the buildup of hardened stool in your bowel that you can’t pass. Fecal impaction is a potential complication of chronic constipation ...

Digital removal of stool, which involves using your fingers, can be helpful when other relief techniques don’t work. But there are safety risks, so it’s not a good idea to use this method frequently.

Unless you happen to be a toddler, you probably don't want to talk about feces — that substance more colloquially known as poop. But when things go wrong in that department, it pays to understand what ...