By Dr. Chris Cormier, DC — The Nerve Health Institute, Lafayette, Louisiana
Two organs, each about the size of your fist, and between them they handle one of the most demanding jobs in the body — quietly, continuously, without ever asking for your attention.
Most people never think about their kidneys. I think that is a missed opportunity, because kidney health is one of the areas where paying attention early pays off most, and where there is a factor almost nobody checks. That factor is the one we work on every day at The Nerve Health Institute.
The number that should get your attention
Your kidneys filter roughly 180 litres of plasma every single day — a glomerular filtration rate of about 120 millilitres per minute, running around the clock.
Then comes the part that is genuinely astonishing. Of those 180 litres, about 178.5 litres are reabsorbed — water, salts, glucose, amino acids, all carefully pulled back into circulation. What leaves as urine is roughly 1.5 litres a day.
To do that, your kidneys take 20 to 25% of everything your heart pumps — about a litre of blood every minute. They are among the most metabolically demanding organs you have, and they are performing a precision sorting operation thousands of times a day, deciding what stays and what goes.
Anything working that hard deserves support. And anything that works that quietly deserves checking, because it will not tell you when it starts struggling.
The two tests worth asking for
If you take one practical action from this article, take this one. Early kidney changes are typically silent — the kidneys have enormous reserve capacity and will carry on without symptoms long past the point where something is measurable.
Two simple tests are recommended together to get the full picture:
- eGFR — estimated glomerular filtration rate. A blood test that estimates kidney function: how well the filtering is working.
- uACR — urine albumin-creatinine ratio. A urine test that looks for kidney damage, and it can pick up early signs before eGFR starts to fall.
They measure different things, which is why both matter. Ask your physician for them — particularly if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or a family history of kidney problems. A number on a page now is worth far more than a symptom later.
The factor almost nobody checks
Here is where our work differs from most, and it is the part I most want people to understand.
Every cell in your kidneys is wired to your brain. Think of your brain as the power company and your nerves as the lines carrying the supply. Your skin cells, muscle cells, bone cells and — critically — your organs and glands all depend on that connection working properly.
The nerves supplying the kidneys emerge from the lower back. The L3 nerve in particular carries supply to the kidneys and pancreas, with neighbouring levels serving the adrenal glands, spleen and descending colon. In our clinic, the primary nerve to the kidneys is one of the most common nerves we find compromised in the patients who come to see us.
That is not a small observation. If the power supply to an organ is diminished, the organ is being asked to do a demanding job on reduced capacity — and nobody is checking the supply line. We assess it directly through our 88-nerve assessment, which maps function across 88 major nerve pathways. Our conditions library sets out the presentations where we see this most often.
Why this one is personal
My father had his first back surgery at nineteen. The problem was in the lower lumbar nerves — L3, L4, L5. He had a second surgery later.
Those surgeries relieved the mechanical pressure. What was never addressed was restoring the energy flow through the nerve itself. Over the years the supply to his pancreas and kidneys stayed weak. He developed diabetes. Then kidney problems followed. He had a kidney and pancreas transplant at 59, and he died at 67.
I was nineteen once with a back that would give out for two weeks at a time — the same cells, the same pattern, the same family history running back through my grandmother, who also had diabetes.
I am almost 54 now. No diabetes. No kidney problems. My L3 nerve is in excellent shape. That took years of deliberate work, and it is the reason I built a clinic around assessing the nerve supply to organs rather than waiting for the organ to announce a problem. If you have a family history like mine, that history is information — not a verdict.
Supporting your kidneys with the OWL Method
Our framework is oxygen, water and light, supported by frequency, magnetism and nutrients. Here is how each applies to the kidneys specifically.
Oxygen
Oxygen is the first ingredient in every one of your roughly 30 trillion cells, and the kidneys are among the hungriest consumers you have. Given how much of your cardiac output they take, oxygen delivery is not a background detail for these organs — it is the operating condition. Breathing quality, sleep quality and circulation all feed into it.
Water — and finding your right number
Water is the second ingredient, and for kidneys it does two jobs: it provides the volume the filtration system works with, and it keeps what the kidneys are processing appropriately dilute.
Quality matters as much as quantity, and we cover filtration and water structuring in our at-home programme. But here is the part that genuinely matters and that general health content usually skips: your right daily amount is personal.
For people with diagnosed kidney disease, fluid targets are individualised and set by your nephrologist — in earlier stages the guidance is usually to drink freely, while in later stages a specific limit is prescribed and matters a great deal. So if you are under kidney care, ask your team for your number and work to that. If you are not, steady intake through the day is the straightforward approach.
We ask every patient about this at intake, because getting it right for your kidneys is the whole point.
Light
Light energy is how the nervous system communicates — the signalling traffic running between brain and organ along those fibre-optic pathways. Supporting that signalling is the core of what we do, and our full-body red light therapy is one of the tools we use for it. Circadian rhythm matters here too, which is why we address sleep timing early with most patients.
Frequency, magnetism and nutrients
Every cell carries its own frequency, like a guitar string that wants to stay in tune, and physical, emotional and environmental stress all pull cells out of tune over time. Frequency work, grounding and targeted nutrition round out the framework. These sit alongside the first three rather than replacing them.
Where EBOO fits
We were entirely non-invasive for decades. The one procedure we eventually added is EBOO — extracorporeal blood oxygenation and ozonation — in which blood is drawn from one arm, passed through a filtration and oxygenation circuit, and returned through the other.
We offer it as a supportive wellness therapy focused on circulation and oxygenation, used alongside the rest of someone’s plan. Candidacy is individual and we assess it carefully — people with significant cardiac conditions or advanced kidney disease need a different conversation, and that is exactly the sort of thing we work through properly at consultation rather than assuming. Full detail is at ebooprime.com.
What you can start at home
I love seeing patients in the clinic, but I cannot go home with anyone. That is why we built BodyCharger — an educational platform teaching people how to support their own self-healing day to day.
The 28-Day Cell Sparking Challenge walks you through it one small shift at a time: oxygen uptake, water quality and timing, light exposure, frequency, grounding and nutrients. What we consistently find is that people joining the programme simply were not doing these things — and that the small shifts are what let the body get back to doing its own work.
Working alongside your kidney care team
One thing I want to be clear about, because it matters for anyone reading this with a diagnosis.
If you are under nephrology care, keep that care. Keep your appointments, take your prescribed medication, follow the fluid and dietary targets your team has set, and if dialysis has been recommended for you, that is a life-sustaining treatment and your nephrologist is the person to discuss it with. What we do sits alongside that, supporting function and the nerve supply to the organs — and the patients who do best are the ones who have both.
We will always tell you plainly when something belongs with your physician. That is part of the job.
Frequently asked questions
How much blood do the kidneys actually filter?
About 180 litres of plasma per day, with roughly 178.5 litres reabsorbed and around 1.5 litres leaving as urine. The kidneys receive 20 to 25% of your cardiac output to do it — about a litre of blood every minute.
What tests should I ask for to check my kidneys?
Two, used together: eGFR, a blood test estimating kidney function, and uACR, a urine test checking for kidney damage that can detect early changes before eGFR falls. Ask your physician, particularly if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or a family history.
How much water should I drink for kidney health?
If you have no diagnosed kidney disease, steady intake through the day is sensible. If you are under kidney care, your fluid target is individualised and set by your nephrologist — in later stages of kidney disease a specific limit is prescribed, and following it matters. Ask your team for your number.
Can nerve function really affect organ health?
Every cell in an organ is connected to the brain through the nervous system, and the nerves supplying the kidneys emerge from the lower lumbar spine. In our clinic the primary nerve to the kidneys is among the most commonly compromised findings we see. We assess it directly through our 88-nerve assessment.
Do you treat kidney disease?
We work on nerve function, oxygenation, hydration, circadian rhythm and the other foundational inputs, alongside your medical care rather than in place of it. Kidney disease is managed by your nephrologist, and we are glad to work with your team.
Is this available in Lafayette, Louisiana?
Yes — we see patients at The Nerve Health Institute in Lafayette and from across Acadiana. Contact the clinic to book an assessment.
Book your nerve assessment
If you have a family history of kidney or metabolic problems, or you simply want to know whether the power supply to your organs is working properly, that is what our 88-nerve assessment is for. Contact The Nerve Health Institute and we will walk you through it.
Dr. Chris Cormier, DC
Founder, The Nerve Health Institute — Lafayette, Louisiana
At-home programmes at bodycharger.com. More on how and why I practise this way at drchriscormier.com.
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