Menstrual Pain - Herbal Relief Chinese herbs may be more effective than other methods at relieving menstrual cramps, suggests a study by the University of Western Sydney, in Australia. The trials, conducted on 3,475 women in China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Netherlands, found that herbal medicine worked better at reducing pain and symptoms than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aspirin and ibuprofen), oral contraceptives, acupuncture, hot-water bottles, placebo, or no treatment at all. And the herbs had no evident side effects. Fifty percent of premenopausal women and as many as 85 percent of teenage girls suffer from menstrual pain. The herbs studied include Chinese angelica root, Szechuan lovage root, red and white peony root, Chinese motherwort, cinnamon bark, fennel fruit, and licorice root.