Is there a difference between abdominal distention and bloating?

Usually we consider these terms to be the same, but in fact bloating refers to the sensation of abdominal swelling, while distention is a visible increase in the abdominal girth and/or clothing size. In this article, researchers from UK showed that the feeling of bloating is associated with visceral hypersensitivity (feeling of having a very sensitive bowel), while those with visible distention may not have the same problem. The researcher suggested that the treatment of these two conditions could be significantly different. Gastroenterology, March 10, 2008 
2008-06-20 18:47:06