Washington, Oct 17 : Researchers have found that Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) may help provide relief to women with menstrual cramps.

The study conducted by Cochrane researchers has found evidence that CHM, which has been used for centuries in China to treat unexplained cramps that occur during menstruation, may provide a possible form of treatment for menstrual cramps.

For treating menstrual cramps women are often offered either non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or oral contraceptives.

However, women prefer a non-drug alternative as they think that taking drugs won’t free them from pains.

In the study 3,475 women were examined. The analysis came from studying 39 randomised controlled trials of all the participants.

It was found that CHM gave significant improvements in pain relief when compared to pharmaceutical drugs and also reduced overall symptoms.

“All available measures of effectiveness confirmed the overall superiority of Chinese herbal medicine to placebo, no treatment, NSAIDs OCP, acupuncture and heat compression, and, at the same time, there were no indications that CHM caused any adverse events,” lead author Xiaoshu Zhu who works at the Center for Complementary Medicine Research at the University of Western Sydney, Australia.

The research also showed that CHM was better at alleviating pain as compared to acupuncture or heat compression. (ANI)