Nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling are currently on the spotlight in Physics, especially after recent experimental results that have found signatures of Majorana fermions, i.e. particles that are equal to their antiparticles. So far, most of works on these systems have been devoted to nanowires proximized with superconductors, precisely in the search for Majorana quasiparticles through out of equilibrium properties. In the talk I shall show that interesting effects appear even without superconducting coupling and at equilibrium. In particular, I shall present some recent results concerning the interplay between the Rashba spinorbit coupling and a magnetic field on the equilibrium spin properties of a nanowire. In the first part of the talk, devoted to the bulk properties, I shall show that such interplay leads to the appearance of an equilibrium spin current, whose origin will be discussed. In the second part of the talk I shall analyze the effects of metallic leads contacted to the nanowire. I shall show that, at the interfaces with the leads, a localized spin polarization appears, orthogonal to the magnetic field and partially penetrating into the leads. This feature, appearing in the topologically trivial phase and purely due to the inhomogeneity of the Rashba coupling, suggests a caution in interpreting spin polarization as signatures of Majorana fermions. We analyze these quantities for both long and short nanowires in experimentally realistic regimes.