Your body contains roughly 800 lymph nodes, small bean-shaped structures spread from your head to your groin. They cluster at the convergence of major blood vessels, filtering fluid and trapping bacteria, viruses, and abnormal cells. Most sit deep inside your body where you’ll never feel them, but several important groups lie close enough to the skin’s surface that you can check them yourself.
Head and Neck
The neck holds more palpable lymph nodes than any other region, organized into chains that run from your chin down to your collarbone. Doctors classify these into levels, but in practical terms, the key clusters you can feel are: under your chin (submental), along the jawline (submandibular), in front of and behind your ears (preauricular and postauricular), down the sides of your neck along the large muscle that runs from behind your ear to your collarbone, and just above the collarbone (supraclavicular).
These nodes drain your scalp, face, mouth, throat, and ears. They’re the ones most likely to swell during a cold, sore throat, or ear infection. The supraclavicular nodes deserve special attention. A persistently swollen node just above your left collarbone, sometimes called Virchow’s node, can be the first sign of cancers originating in the chest or abdomen. This node sits at the endpoint of the thoracic duct, the body’s main lymphatic highway, so malignant cells traveling through the lymph system can get trapped there.
Armpits
The axillary lymph nodes sit in and around your armpit, arranged in five groups: anterior nodes along the edge of your chest muscle, posterior nodes on the back wall of the armpit near your shoulder blade, lateral nodes along the outer wall, central nodes in the middle base of the armpit, and apical nodes tucked deep at the top. Together, these nodes filter lymph from your arms, upper chest wall, and breasts.
Axillary nodes are particularly important in breast cancer staging. If cancer cells spread from the breast, these are typically the first nodes they reach. But swollen armpit nodes are far more commonly caused by minor infections, skin irritation from shaving, or reactions to vaccines (especially in the arm that received the shot).
Groin
Your inguinal lymph nodes are located in the crease where your leg meets your torso, in the upper inner thigh. About 10 superficial inguinal nodes sit just below the skin near the inguinal ligament, the band of tissue running from your hip bone to your pubic bone. Deeper inguinal nodes sit farther beneath the surface in the connective tissue of the upper thigh.
These nodes drain the legs, feet, external genitals, and lower abdominal wall. They can swell from cuts or infections on the legs and feet, sexually transmitted infections, or skin conditions. Because they serve such a large drainage area, it’s not unusual to feel small, pea-sized inguinal nodes even when you’re healthy.
Inside the Chest
You can’t feel these, but a large number of lymph nodes sit deep in your chest cavity. Mediastinal nodes cluster around your heart, windpipe, and the airways branching into your lungs. Hilar nodes sit where the major airways enter each lung. These nodes filter lymph from the lungs, heart, and esophagus, and they commonly show up on chest CT scans or X-rays. Conditions like lung infections, sarcoidosis, and lung cancer can cause them to enlarge.
Abdomen and Pelvis
The abdomen contains extensive lymph node chains that are only visible on imaging. Mesenteric nodes are embedded in the tissue that anchors your intestines, filtering lymph from the digestive tract. Retroperitoneal nodes line the back of the abdominal cavity along the aorta, the body’s largest artery. In the pelvis, nodes follow the iliac blood vessels (common iliac, internal iliac, and external iliac groups) and drain the bladder, reproductive organs, and rectum.
Normal retroperitoneal nodes measure up to 10 mm across, while pelvic nodes are considered normal up to about 8 to 10 mm. Because you can’t feel any of these, enlargement is usually discovered incidentally on a CT scan or during investigation of other symptoms.
What Normal Nodes Feel Like
Healthy lymph nodes are soft, small (usually under 1 cm), and slide easily under your fingers when you press on them. Many people have a few palpable nodes in their neck or groin that are completely normal, especially if they’re small, movable, and painless. Nodes that swell in response to a nearby infection are often tender, slightly enlarged, and return to normal size within a week or two.
Characteristics that raise concern are different. Nodes that feel hard or rubbery, don’t move when you push on them, grow rapidly, or persist for more than two weeks without an obvious infection warrant a closer look. Painless, fixed nodes are more associated with lymphoma or metastatic cancer, while tender, mobile nodes are more typical of infection. Size matters too: the general threshold for concern is a short-axis measurement over 1 cm, though in certain areas like the abdomen, smaller cutoffs apply.
How to Check Your Own Lymph Nodes
A monthly self-check takes just a few minutes. Use the pads of your fingers (not your fingertips) and press in gentle circular motions.
- Neck: Start in front of your ears and work down along the jawline, then down the sides of your neck. Tilt your head slightly toward the side you’re checking to relax the muscle, and press your fingers underneath it. Finish by hunching your shoulders forward and feeling just above each collarbone.
- Armpits: Sit comfortably with your top off. Lift one arm slightly, place the opposite hand high into the armpit, then lower your arm and press gently against the chest wall. Repeat on the other side.
- Groin: Feel along the crease of each upper inner thigh, pressing gently in a vertical line.
Check both sides and compare. A node that appears on one side but not the other, or one that’s noticeably larger, firmer, or growing over time, is worth having evaluated. If a swollen node shows up alongside an obvious cold or skin infection and resolves within a week or two, it was almost certainly doing its job.