These were just the first reviews to come up, and so is not a thorough or systematic assessment. However, this is generally what we find – there may be some positive evidence, but we can’t really say, the study quality is too low, etc. When we do get really rigorous clinical trials, they generally show that acupuncture does not work – it does not matter where you stick the needles, if they even penetrate the skin, or if you even use needles at all.

So part of the problem comes from proponents interpreting weak preliminary and flawed evidence as if it is definitive, when it is not even adequate (especially given the low scientific plausibility of acupuncture).