For children with motility disorders — which are disorders that affect the muscles of the digestive tract — symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain can cause significant physical and emotional distress. The team in the Motility Clinic at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, provides care and support for children with motility disorders and their families.

Motility refers to the movement of food through the digestive tract (also called the gastrointestinal or GI tract), which is controlled by the contraction of muscles within the tract. When there is impaired movement through the digestive tract, children may experience debilitating symptoms. These can include:

• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Abdominal distension
• Abdominal pain
• Difficulty swallowing

These symptoms can greatly impact a child’s quality of life, and cause them to miss school, activities, or other important parts of family life. We provide expert care to improve our patients’ quality of life and keep them from missing these important parts of childhood.

Why Choose Johns Hopkins All Children’s

Motility disorders can be difficult to diagnose and treat. The Motility Clinic, part of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Program at Johns Hopkins All Children’s, is the first clinic focused on motility disorders in children in the Tampa Bay area.

Led by Kimberly Law-Sigety, M.D., who has expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of routine and complex motility disorders, the clinic provides a focused, specialized approach to care that includes advanced testing to ensure your child receives an accurate diagnosis and can start the right treatment more quickly, improving their quality of life.

Sometimes these conditions aren’t just a GI issue, and patients may need to be seen by other specialists such as surgeons, neurologists, psychologists or others. We can provide referrals to specialists throughout the hospital for those patients who may need additional care.

Conditions We Treat

• Achalasia
• Anorectal disorders and malformations
• Constipation
• Difficulty swallowing
• Fecal incontinence
• Gastroparesis
• GERD
• Hirschsprung’s disease
• Internal anal sphincter achalasia
• Intestinal pseudo-obstruction
• Spina bifida
• Vomiting

Services We Provide

• 24-hour pH impedance testing
• Anorectal manometry
• Esophageal manometry
• Gastric emptying studies
• Sitz marker test
• Transit studies

What to Expect

We take a child- and family-centered approach to care. We work with you to understand your perspective on your child’s condition and any care they may have received before coming to our clinic. 

During your child’s appointment, we will review your child’s medical history with you, including any medication or treatment that your child may have already received, and how you think those treatments have or have not been working for your child.

We will then do a physical exam, and discuss next steps with you, including changes to medication or any further testing that may be recommended. 

Some patients may follow up with our clinic or may continue seeing their primary GI doctor. We will work closely with your primary GI doctor to ensure continuity of care.

Location

We see patients in Outpatient Care Center on the hospital’s St. Petersburg campus:

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Outpatient Care Center
601 5th Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701

Learn more about this location, including parking information.