Dorsal root ganglia

Looks like

A small swelling on each back nerve root, just outside the spinal cord in the gap between two vertebrae.

What it does

Holds the cell bodies of the sensory nerves that bring touch, pain and position into the cord.

Keeping it well

Chickenpox virus sleeps here and can wake as shingles — a painful banded rash on one side. Antivirals within three days work best.

Related conditions

• Amyloidosis (AL and ATTR)
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• B12 & folate deficiency
• Bone metastases and spinal cord compression
• Botulism
• Chiari malformation and syringomyelia
• Chickenpox (varicella)
• Chronic neuropathic pain
• Chronic pain syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Friedreich's ataxia
• Guillain-Barré syndrome
• Lyme disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Myasthenia gravis
• Neck pain and cervical spondylosis
• Neurogenic bladder
• Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Poliomyelitis
• Rabies
• Restless legs syndrome
• Shingles (herpes zoster)
• Spina bifida & neural tube defects
• Spinal cord injury
• Spinal muscular atrophy
• Tetanus
• Tick-borne encephalitis
• Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies