Together, they perform what's called peristalsis, which is a series of coordinated wave-like muscle contractions that helps squeeze the food bolus in one direction.
The bolus is then moved by peristalsis through the esophagus and into the stomach, where hydrochloric acid is secreted and pepsin begins the digestion process.
What happens is that the normal wave-like contractions of the intestine, called peristalsis, grab this leading edge and pull it into the part of the bowel ahead of it.
In peristalsis, the smooth muscles of the walls of your digestive organs take turns contracting and relaxing to squeeze food through the lumen, or cavity, of your alimentary tract.
These neurons would normally do the peristalsis, this kind of squeezing motion of the intestine that pushes the food through it and that allows us to absorb nutrients and water.
This stage is called propulsion, and its initial mechanism is swallowing — which, as you know, is a voluntary action — but then it's quickly turned over to the involuntary process of peristalsis.
But most people also experience a few mass peristalsis movements a day — big, intense contractions that clear out a large swath of intestine at once, pushing feces into the rectum. These often occur just after eating.
Okay, so without these nerves, peristalsis in the gut is seriously impaired, because those muscles tend to lose the ability to relax, and they stay in their default contracted position, which essentially blocks the movement of feces.