It's not like homeopathy.
Acupuncture works for the same reason people are given "bee therapy" for arthritis, where a jar of bees are allowed to sting the hand - the sensation of injury or damage causes the body to rush healing factors to the afflicted area, which can inadvertently bring some relief of symptoms to other conditions in that area. It has absolutely nothing to do with manipulation of chi or body energies, but it does indeed help and not just because of the placebo effect. Doesn't mean that the "eastern energy lines" rationale stated for it isn't absolute crap, of course.

Homeopathic medicine, however, is a contradiction in terms.
(Drakkenmaw, Sun 6 Jul 2008, 23:17, Reply)