The human kidneys are small paired organs that have a dark purple color and a dense consistency. They resemble beans in their shape. It should be noted that at the same time, their upper ends are close to each other up to about 8 cm, but the lower ends, on the contrary, are 11 cm apart from each other.
Human kidneys, the location of which is symmetrical, are located in the lumbar region. More precisely, on both sides of the spine in the region of the XII thoracic (at its level) and two lumbar upper vertebrae. The kidneys are located closer to the posterior wall of the abdomen, namely to its inner surface.
The inner edge of the kidney is concave in the middle in the form of a niche. It is directed directly towards the spine. And its outer edge is more convex. Naturally, the human kidneys are in contact with the organs of the abdominal cavity. And, besides this, the adrenal gland, which is enclosed with a kidney in a certain fat capsule, is adjacent to each of them on top.
I would like to note that the left kidney is slightly higher than the right. This is mainly due to the fact that such an organ as the liver occupies a lot of space on the right side. Most likely, for this reason, the right kidney is thicker and shorter in comparison with the left.
In the center of the concave edge there is a small depression called the renal portal. It got such a name because it is through it that all the renal nerves, vessels and the ureter exit and enter from the organ pass.
On its outer walls, the human kidneys are surrounded by a rather thick layer of fat (this is the very fat capsule that connects the kidney to the adrenal gland). Thanks to this capsule and renal fascia (its special outer shell), the kidneys are held in place, being fixed in their normal position.
Therefore, if rapid and sharp weight loss occurs, in which the adipose tissue of the directly renal capsule is involved, then in this case the kidney can quite easily get out of this stationary state. This threatens that the kidney may either shift somewhat downward or start an unpredictable movement in any direction.
As a result, their owner has a lot of discomfort. In medicine, such an unhealthy condition is defined as the prolapse of the kidney, and its extreme manifestation as a vagus kidney.
The human kidneys are the most important organ of the urinary system. As a rule, when a person takes a breath or changes the position of his body from horizontal to vertical, then the kidneys are shifted about 3-5 cm down. Then their lower pole can be felt with your hands in the left and right hypochondria.
The main functions that the kidneys perform in the human body are:
- regulation of the water-salt balance of the whole body, they maintain the necessary concentration of salts and volumes of fluids in the human body;
- removal of toxic (harmful) and unnecessary substances from the body;
- blood pressure regulation.
The size of a person’s kidney varies between 10-12 cm x 4-5 cm. These rather small organs, filtering blood, produce urine. She, in turn, gathering in the abdominal system, is excreted into the bladder through the ureters, and then out.
During normal kidney function, all the blood that circulates in the body passes through them in about three minutes. In one minute, renal glomeruli filter out 70 to 100 ml of primary urine, which is subsequently concentrated in the renal tubules. So, per day, 1-1.5 liters of urine should be excreted in an adult (this is 350-500 ml less than the norm of the liquid that he drank).
If there is a prolonged violation of the direct outflow of urine from the abdominal system of the kidney itself, then this threatens to damage its tissue and seriously impair its functions.