To show the wide-reaching effects of the sympathetic ganglia, consider all of the functions of the head and neck that are affected or controlled by just these three sympathetic ganglia.

The cervical sympathetic ganglia affect the various glands of the face including the salivary glands (parotid, submaxillary, and sublingual) which control secretions in the mouth, lacrimal glands (secretions in the eyes), and the nasal, sinus and palatine glands (secretions in the nose and sinuses). One can easily see that if too many secretions were produced by these glands that excessive tearing could result (as in cluster headaches), dizziness/vertigo (by excessive secretions in the inner ear), and sinus headaches (by too many secretions in the sinuses irrespective of allergies). It is also significant that the cervical sympathetic ganglia are one of the controls of the diameter of the blood vessels in the brain. This would account for the aura of migraines (vasoconstriction of blood vessels) and the actual headache itself (vasodilation).

The above figure shows the connection between the sympathetic nervous system, the somatic nervous system, and the various innervations of structures.

An interaction between the autonomic nervous system and the somatic (voluntary) nervous system is easily seen in the spinal cord.

Both the somatic and autonomic nervous systems affect the skin, blood vessels, muscles, viscera (organs), and brain (parietal peritoneum). An abnormality in the autonomic nervous system can affect muscle tension so a person feels muscle spasms in the neck, for instance. By the interaction it is also evident that a muscle spasm can, in fact, reflexively affect the sympathetic nervous system, causing a problem in an organ.

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