What Causes Hard Poop—and How Do You Treat It?
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Medically reviewed by Jay N. Yepuri, MD
Hard poop can happen when poop passes through your digestive system too slowly. In addition to feeling hard, the poop (stool) may be dry and lumpy. Hard poop can be difficult to pass and make bowel movements painful. Hard poop is a sign of constipation.
While treatment is possible with certain lifestyle changes and medications, sometimes a lump of hard stool can stay stuck in the rectum and require medical attention.
Hard Poop Symptoms
If you’re experiencing hard poop, you may be constipated. Constipation is generally defined as having fewer than three bowel movements a week. When you do have a bowel movement, the stool may be not only hard, but also small, dry, and lumpy. The poop may look like hard pebbles.
When you have hard poop, it might be painful or difficult to pass the stool. You might find yourself straining during a bowel movement. You may also feel like you haven’t fully completed a bowel movement, like you are backed up, or that your intestines feel blocked. Even if you feel like you have the urge to make a bowel movement, you may not be able to.
In addition to changes to your poop and bowel movements, you might experience stomach cramping or pain as well as bloating.
Sometimes the hard poop doesn't come out and instead stays stuck in your rectum as a lump. This is known as fecal impaction. If you’ve been experiencing constipation for an extended period of time and have hard poop stuck in your rectum, you might notice symptoms such as:
Bleeding from the colon
Bladder pressure
Loss of bladder control
Rapid heartbeat and lightheadedness while straining to pass stool
Causes of Hard Poop
Hard poop develops when there’s not enough water in your stool. You might not have enough water in your stool if the stool takes too long to travel through the digestive system. As your stool spends more time in your intestines, your colon absorbs more water than usual from the stool, resulting in hard, dry, lumpy poop.
There are several reasons why you might not have enough water in your stool and, in turn, have hard poop.
Diet
The foods and drinks you consume impact the way the digestive system runs.
Not getting enough fiber in your diet can lead to hard stools. That’s because fiber absorbs water and helps the food you eat move its way through your digestive tract. Without adequate fiber, your stools won’t be able to absorb as much water as they should. Subsequently, the stools turn hard and dry.
In addition, being dehydrated can lead to hard stool and constipation. Since you aren't taking in enough fluids, the colon instead absorbs too much water from your stool during the digestive process to try to compensate, resulting in hard poop.
Mobility Issues
Experts say people with limited mobility may be at a greater risk for having chronic constipation and fecal impaction. That's because without physical mobility, the digestive system can slow down substantially, leading to hard poop. People with a health condition that makes them be in a chair or bed for extended periods of time can lead to mobility-related constipation.
Health Conditions
Hard stool and constipation can be a symptom of an underlying health condition.
For example, people who have Parkinson's disease and other brain or nervous system conditions that have damaged the nerves involved in digestive function are more likely to experience chronic constipation and its hard stool. They are also more likely to have hard stool caught in the rectum.
People with spinal cord or brain injuries are also more likely to have constipation and, in turn, hard stool.
Gastrointestinal disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), pelvic floor disorders, and diabetes may also cause hard poop. People with digestive conditions may also go back and forth between periods of constipation and other stomach-related symptoms, like diarrhea.
Medications
Using certain prescription and over-the-counter medications can lead to hard poop due to constipation. That’s because the drugs slow the passing of stool through the digestive system. Some medications that can cause constipation and its hard poop include:
Antidiarrheals: These control loose stools. They can lead to constipation particularly if taken often.
Anticholinergics: These medications used to treat urinary incontinence impact the way nerves interact with the muscles in the bowel.
Antidepressants: These drugs used to manage depression may have a side effect of constipation.
Antacids: These drugs are used to treat heartburn symptoms. Antacids that contain the ingredients aluminum and calcium may particularly cause constipation.
Anticonvulsants: These drugs that are used to treat some types of seizures by controlling nerve activity in the brain can affect your bowel movements.
Calcium channel blockers: These medications relax blood vessels in the treatment of certain heart conditions. Because they can also relax the gut muscles, they can lead to constipation and hard stool.
Diuretics: These drugs work by reducing excess fluid in the body to manage conditions like high blood pressure (hypertension). The overall water reduction affects how the stool is formed.
Iron supplements: These are taken for a variety of reasons, and they are thought to impact water absorption in the colon.
Narcotic pain medications: Painkillers like codeine can slow down the bowel movement process.
Medication use is an especially common cause of constipation and hard stools for older adults.
Stopping Long-Term Laxative Use
It may be more likely that you'll experience hard, stuck stool if you've been using laxatives (medications or natural remedies that help you have a bowel movement) for long period of time and then suddenly stop.
This may seem backwards since laxatives help keep bowel movements flowing. But when your body relies on laxatives, a sudden halt to that routine can cause the intestines to forget how to trigger a bowel movement on their own.
Travel
Some people may experience constipation while traveling or on vacation.
This may happen because your sleep has been disrupted—particularly when there’s a time zone change. In addition, you’re likely eating different foods than you would while at home and also may have limited opportunities to use the bathroom when on a plane or car ride.
When To See a Healthcare Provider
In general, it’s a good idea to check with a healthcare provider if you’ve been constipated for three days.
You should also see a healthcare provider if you think you have a lump of hard, dry stool stuck in your rectum. There are several signs of fecal impaction you can look out for. Seek urgent medical help if you notice:
Diarrhea or an inability to control your bowel movements after being constipated for a long time
Severe stomach pain and bloating
Vomiting
During your visit, the healthcare provider may start by asking about your symptoms and your medical history. They’ll particularly want to know about your bowel movement patterns, any laxative use, and any other medications you may be taking.
From there, they may perform a physical examination, focusing on your stomach and rectum. The rectal exam will show whether you have hard poop stuck in your rectum.
A colonoscopy (an imaging procedure used to examine the colon) may also be ordered if you’ve experienced a recent change in your bowel movements. This is to check for any signs of colorectal cancer or digestive disorders.
Related: When Does Constipation Become an Emergency?
Treatments for Hard Poop
There are a variety of methods for managing hard poop, depending on the underlying cause of your constipation. Some of the options include:
Taking medications: Over-the-counter medications like stool softeners or laxatives can help you have a regular bowel movement more easily. Prescription medications that treat constipation symptoms of certain conditions like IBS may also be recommended.
Managing your diet: Staying hydrated, avoiding processed and fatty foods, eating enough fiber, and not skipping any meals (if possible) can help keep stool moving. The right types of foods and fluids along with proper meal timing can help trigger the colon to control and release stool when the stomach is full.
Taking supplements: Magnesium is one type of supplement that may help improve constipation and hard poop. Research has shown that magnesium can help move food through the digestive tract by making sure enough water gets absorbed by the stool.
When the hard poop is stuck in your rectum, manual removal of the piece of stool may be needed. A healthcare provider will give you a warm mineral oil enema (fluid that is injected into the colon) to help soften the lump. The stool then may have to be broken up and removed by hand. To do this, the provider will carefully insert a finger or two into the rectum and break up the lump of stool into smaller pieces so the pieces can be removed.
A bowel retraining program may also be recommended as part of a treatment plan. This type of program aims to train your bowels to become more regular. It involves tactics like using the bathroom at the same time every day and avoiding the urge to hold in your poop when you feel a bowel movement coming.
Related: Can Taking Magnesium Improve Your Digestive Health?
How To Prevent Hard Poop
Making some lifestyle tweaks can help prevent constipation and the hard poop that comes with it. Here's what experts generally recommend:
Include more fiber in your diet by adding fruits, vegetables, and grains
Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water every day
Get enough physical activity, at least four times per week
If you need to take a medication that causes constipation as a side effect, talk with your healthcare provider about taking a stimulant laxative at the same time to help keep bowel movements and stool regular.
Complications of Hard Poop
Experiencing frequent hard poop means you're likely also straining to go to the bathroom. This can lead to complications like hemorrhoids (swollen veins in and around the anus) and anal fissures (tiny tears in the lining of the anus). In more severe cases, straining to pass hard stools can cause rectal prolapse, when part of the rectum slips outside the anus.
Having a stuck lump of hard stool that needs to be manually removed by a healthcare provider also comes with its own complications. These complications include tearing, injury, or death of rectal tissue, which is located at the end of your digestive tract where the stool collects before it passes.
A Quick Review
Hard poop can occur when your stool doesn't have enough water in it, which typically happens when stool moves through the digestive tract too slowly. Hard poop is one of the main signs of constipation. Diet, mobility issues, health conditions, medications, the stoppage of long-term laxative use, and travel can all lead to constipation and the hard poop it comes with.
To treat and prevent hard poop, experts generally recommend eating enough fiber, being physically active, and staying hydrated—along with using medication like laxatives as needed. While it's not a cause for alarm to experience occasional hard stool or constipation, frequent or long-term hard stools should be brought up to a healthcare provider to prevent any serious complications like fecal impaction and to rule out underlying causes that might need treatment, like IBS.
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