The actual clinical effectiveness of acupuncture is difficult to assess. The preferred methodology is to compare the action of traditional acupuncture 
(on the classic meridians) to that of an acupuncture “placebo” where the needles are positioned elsewhere on these meridians.
Studies show mixed results with some comparable efficacy of both techniques in both migraines with chronic pain. Similarly, a comparative study on the nausea caused by cancer radiation therapy shows that the results are identical between a group actually submitted to acupuncture and a group that believes the needles are retracted and do not pierce.
The random implantation of needles, regardless of traditional meridians, would significantly improve the patient compared to treatment without implantation. According to that study, the improvement is greater than 75% of conventional therapies.
Ce Professor Heins Endres, co-director of the German study, said that “acupuncture for back pain is extremely promising.” Doctors have also expressed support of acupuncture at the end of the experiment: the case of Briar Berman, director of the University of Maryland and James Young, Medical Center’s University of Chicago. ”The superiority of both forms of acupuncture suggests a common mode of action, says Dr. Haake. These treatments probably act on pain generation or transmission of the central nervous system. In any case, this mode of action is more effective than conventional treatments.”
