todays xkcd is so good i have to post it

[Guest analogue wings]

Although acupuncture was found effective for chronic low back pain, tailoring needling sites to each patient and penetration of the skin appear to be unimportant in eliciting therapeutic benefits. These findings raise questions about acupuncture's purported mechanisms of action. It remains unclear whether acupuncture or our simulated method of acupuncture provide physiologically important stimulation or represent placebo or nonspecific effects.

 

And if you move the bold tags you're back to "it's no more effective than the placebo"

[chenGOD]

No, the word is unclear. But if their studies showed that there is some effectiveness in receiving the treatment, then clearly there is some benefit. Search pubmed for acupuncture, and you'll find that the studies which have been done on acupuncture efficacy are nowhere near reliable enough to be determinant.

However, in my personal experience, getting acupuncture treatment was better than not getting any, for muscle pains at least.