The skepticism toward acupuncture is that not only the location where the needle is inserted doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if inserting needle at all, ie it's no better than sham acupuncture. This looks like the placebo effect.

A 2009 study found it's no better than poking patients gently with toothpicks. But still still conclude acupuncture is (more) effective. That's misleading. https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2009/05/13/another-acupuncture-study-misinterpreted/

Would be curious to read if there was a review that does a deep dive in to see what today's best evidence show, given randomization and blinded controls.

That means it is probably the patient/practitioner interaction that is doing the work...placebo

I looked at the first couple links given the time I have.

These article conclude there seems to be an effect while stressing the conclusions are based on low quality studies.

From Paulo Alexandre Pereira et al 2026:

acupuncture is a safe and effective alternative to medication, despite the low to moderate methodological quality of the included studies

From Chuwen Feng et al 2025:

methodological weaknesses are worth mentioning, such as diversity between studies and the inclusion of lower-quality clinical trials. Future research should consider the importance of conducting large-scale, multicenter randomized controlled trials with standardized methodology to confirm these findings

The science based medecine article I linked earlier references (reviews of) good quality trials & with strict controls, such as E. Ernst et al 2011:

numerous systematic reviews have generated little truly convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain. Serious adverse effects continue to be reported

There are good reasons to remain skeptical, given reseach that include low quality trials see some effect, while others don't.