Time to call for backup.

There are few sensations as uncomfortable as being blocked up, feeling like there’s a bowling ball in your belly, only to come up empty after taking several hopeful trips to the bathroom.

Luckily, you don’t necessarily need medication to get relief from constipation — just a few of these pantry staples will do the trick.

Research recently presented at the Digestive Disease Week conference suggests grandma really did know best: prunes, raisins and dried apricots will get things moving.

The study put 150 participants with chronic constipation into one of three groups: one that consumed 3 ounces of the dried fruits daily, one that drank the juice of said fruits and one that took a sugar water placebo for a month.

The researchers took rigorous notes on changes in poop over seven days.

While the juice helped, the most marked improvements in bowel movements — and mood — came from the dried fruit group.

Stool weight — a good marker of how everything is operating down there — jumped by 21 grams per day in the fruit group, compared to a paltry 1.6 grams in the placebo cohort.

And the lucky ducks in the groups that consumed the fruit in its dry and juiced form had 1.3 times as many spontaneous bathroom breaks per week than the suckers stuck with the placebo.

“People who ate dried fruit had more complete bowel movements than those taking the placebo, and the weight of their stools increased significantly,” Dr. Simon Steenson, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London, told MedicalResearch.com.

“They also reported a higher level of treatment satisfaction, without any significant side effects.”

Steenson noted that while “chronic constipation is something that can be embarrassing…it affects one in 10 people globally,” which is nothing to fart at.

He also pointed out that 80% of Americans don’t meet the recommended guidelines for dried fruit, which is the 3 ounces used in the study, or half a cup.

The magic of raisins, dried apricots and prunes lies in their high amount of fiber — which aids digestion — and sorbitol, which pulls water into the intestines, making stools softer and easier to pass.

Just make sure not to have too much, otherwise it might literally backfire.

And if you’re concerned about the sugar content of these fruits, Steenson believes it’s not worth stewing over.

“It’s true that dried fruit does contain quite a lot of sugar, but this is contained within the cells of the fruit and so it takes time for our bodies to break down and release this sugar,” he told MedicalResearch.com.

“So, it is less of a concern than the sugar in sodas and is unlikely to be an issue for our calorie intake or blood glucose.”

It’s worth noting that this study has not yet been peer-reviewed and was funded by the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC).

However, it appears to be the largest clinical trial to see if these foods could relieve constipation — and, anyway, the evidence speaks for itself.

Finally, in addition to giving your bowels their freedom back, you can keep raisins, prunes and dried apricots in the pantry for quite some time — because they will outlive you and everything you love.