Score one for acupuncture! In a newly published review of over two dozen studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture, 
researchers concluded that acupuncture worked better than usual pain treatments for chronic headaches, back pain, and arthritis.
This analysis of previous research involved almost 18,000 people who rated their pain on a scale of 1 to 100. Patients’ average pain value prior to treatment was 60. The average score after treatment for patients receiving acupuncture was 30, compared to 35 after fake acupuncture, and 43 after usual treatments which include medication and physical therapy.
Acupuncture and Chinese medicine is being incorporated into a variety of traditional settings. The military is currently using acupuncture to treat patients’ pain conditions as well as post traumatic stress, and more and more hospitals across the country are offering acupuncture as a treatment option to their patients. While Western medical doctors are unsure as to exactly why acupuncture works, this study suggests that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for a variety of pain conditions.
Find the abstract here and an article about this study in the Minneapolis Star Tribune here.