Evidence from moderate quality randomised studies suggests that acupuncture is effective for treating lateral elbow pain, according to a systematic review by an international team of authors. A total of 19 RCTs that compared acupuncture and/or moxibustion with sham acupuncture, another form of acupuncture or conventional treatment were included. Results from three RCTs of moderate quality showed that true acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture. Results from 10 RCTs of mostly low quality showed that acupuncture or moxibustion was superior or equal to conventional treatment (such as local anesthetic injection, local steroid injection, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or ultrasound). Six low quality RCTs that compared acupuncture plus moxibustion with manual acupuncture alone all showed that the combination of acupuncture and moxibustion was superior to acupuncture alone. (Acupuncture and moxibustion for lateral elbow pain: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014 Apr 12;14(1):136).