Constipation is common. The word may mean different things to different people as bowel habits (and the words they use to describe them) differ greatly between people. For some it might mean not going to the toilet as often as they usually do, for others it means their stools are very hard or painful to pass. This might mean people strain to force the stool out. For others it might feel like they haven't emptied completely, and for some people they only believe they are constipated when they have several of these symptoms at the same time.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original article at https://patient.info/digestive-health/constipation