Relationship between trauma to the extremities and stomach motility

Rate of emptying of the stomach before and after injury was studied by feeding dogs with barium and taking X-rays at regular intervals before and following injury. The injured extremity was not protected in the first group of dogs, and was protected by a cast or splint in the second group. The dogs in a third group were sedated with Nembutal. As compared to control the emptying of the stomach after trauma was markedly delayed or even stopped in the first group and was accelerated in the second group. It was very slow before and after trauma in the Nembutal group. The delay noted in the first group was not related to the time of trauma, but to the time of developing severe pain, swelling, and shock. Mechanical immobilization appeared to be the most important method of preventing the delay of emptying of the stomach after injury; sedation slowed down normal function of the stomach.