Rectal tenesmus is a feeling of incomplete defecation

Defecation

Defecation is the final act of digestion by which organisms eliminate solid, semisolid or liquid waste material from the digestive tract via the anus. Waves of muscular contraction known as peristalsis in the walls of the colon move fecal matter through the digestive tract towards the rectum...

. It is experienced as an inability or difficulty to empty the bowel at defecation. It is frequently painful and may be accompanied by involuntary straining and other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Vesical tenesmus

Vesical tenesmus

Vesical tenesmus refers to the feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder following urination.When the word tenesmus is used without modification, it usually refers to rectal tenesmus....

 is a similar condition, experienced as a feeling of incomplete voiding

Urination

Urination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and more rarely, emiction, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control...

 despite the bladder

Bladder

Bladder usually refers to an anatomical hollow organBladder may also refer to:-Biology:* Urinary bladder in humans** Urinary bladder ** Bladder control; see Urinary incontinence** Artificial urinary bladder, in humans...

 being empty.

Often, rectal tenesmus is simply called tenesmus. The term rectal tenesmus is a retronym

Retronym

A retronym is a type of neologism that provides a new name for an object or concept to differentiate the original form or version of it from a more recent form or version. The original name is most often augmented with an adjective to account for later developments of the object or concept itself...

 to distinguish defecation-related tenesmus from vesical tenesmus.

Considerations

Tenesmus is characterized by a sensation of needing to pass stool, accompanied by pain, cramping, and straining. Despite straining, little stool is passed. Tenesmus is generally associated with inflammatory diseases of the bowel, which may be caused by either infectious or noninfectious conditions. Conditions associated with tenesmus include:

• Irritable bowel syndrome
  Irritable bowel syndrome
  Irritable bowel syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a functional bowel disorder characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and alteration of bowel habits in the absence of any detectable organic cause. In some cases, the symptoms are relieved by bowel movements...
  
  
• Diverticular disease
• Inflammatory bowel disease
  Inflammatory bowel disease
  In medicine, inflammatory bowel disease is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine. The major types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.-Classification:...
  
  
• Coeliac disease
  Coeliac disease
  Coeliac disease , is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy onward...
  
  
• Pelvic floor dysfunction
• Prolapsed hemorrhoid
  Hemorrhoid
  Hemorrhoids or haemorrhoids , are vascular structures in the anal canal which help with stool control. They become pathological or piles when swollen or inflamed. In their physiological state they act as a cushion composed of arterio-venous channels and connective tissue that aid the passage of...
  
  
• Radiation proctitis
  Radiation proctitis
  Radiation proctitis is inflammation and damage to the lower parts of the colon after exposure to x-rays or other ionizing radiation as a part of radiation therapy. Radiation proctitis most commonly occurs after treatment for cancers such as cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer...
  
  
• Rectal gonorrhoea
• Rectal lymphogranuloma venereum
  Lymphogranuloma venereum
  Lymphogranuloma venereum is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the invasive serovars L1, L2, L2a or L3 of Chlamydia trachomatis....
  
  
• Ulcerative colitis
  Ulcerative colitis
  Ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease . Ulcerative colitis is a form of colitis, a disease of the colon , that includes characteristic ulcers, or open sores. The main symptom of active disease is usually constant diarrhea mixed with blood, of gradual onset...
  
  
• Colorectal cancer
  Colorectal cancer
  Colorectal cancer, commonly known as bowel cancer, is a cancer caused by uncontrolled cell growth , in the colon, rectum, or vermiform appendix. Colorectal cancer is clinically distinct from anal cancer, which affects the anus....
  
  
• Rectal lower GI parasitic infection, particularly Trichuris trichiura (whipworm
  Whipworm
  The human tapworm is a roundworm, which causes trichuriasis when it infects a human large intestine. The name whipworm refers to the shape of the worm; they look like whips with wider "handles" at the posterior end.-Life cycle:The female T. trichiura produces 2,000–10,000 single celled eggs per day...
  
  )
• Shigellosis
  Shigellosis
  Shigellosis, also known as bacillary dysentery or Marlow Syndrome, in its most severe manifestation, is a foodborne illness caused by infection by bacteria of the genus Shigella. Shigellosis rarely occurs in animals other than humans and other primates like monkeys and chimpanzees...
  
  
• Amebiasis
• Kidney stone
  Kidney stone
  A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
  
  s, when a stone is lodged in the lower ureter