Effectiveness
Professor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Edzard Ernst and his colleagues have produced regular systematic reviews of the acupuncture literature. In 2007, they concluded that "the emerging clinical evidence seems to imply that acupuncture is effective for some but not all conditions." Several review articles discussing the effectiveness of acupuncture have concluded that its effects may be due to placebo. Evidence for the treatment of psychological conditions other than pain is equivocal. Acupuncture's greatest effectiveness appears to be in symptomatic control of pain and nausea.
The World Health Organization and the United States' National Institutes of Health (NIH) have stated that acupuncture can be effective in the treatment of neurological conditions and pain, though these statements have been criticized for bias and a reliance on studies that used poor methodology. Reports from the USA's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the American Medical Association (AMA) and various USA government reports have studied and commented on the efficacy of acupuncture. There is general agreement that acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles, but not on its efficacy as a medical procedure.
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