MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 1  Back pain - returning to work. 2  Back pain and sports. 3  Compression fractures of the back. 4  Lifting and bending the right way. 5  Lumbosacral spine x-ray. 6  Returning to sports after a back injury. 7  Spinal fusion. 8  Spinal fusion - slideshow. 9  Vertebroplasty - slideshow.
The mucociliary escalator is one of the major defense mechanisms, which protect the lung, and if the mucociliary escalator fails, it increases the risk that the normal and potentially pathogenic, inhabitants of the nose, throat and the back of the mouth, will descend into the lung, resulting in a potentially life-threatening pneumonia ( Anatomy and Physiology, 2013, p. 139).
The main function of the esophagus is to propel swallowed food or fluid into the stomach. This occurs through sequential or peristaltic contraction of circular muscle in the esophageal body, in concert with appropriately timed relaxation of the upper and lower esophageal sphincters.