When a woman has her period, she can feel like she already has pins and needles in her abdomen.

But a new German study says acupuncture needles may actually relieve menstrual cramps, making females more productive during that time of the month, Reuters reports.

Since the study compared acupuncture patients with a group who received no treatment, however, the patients might have experienced the "placebo effect," said Dr. Claudia Witt of Charite University Medical Center in Berlin.

"Nevertheless, our study showed that acupuncture was beneficial for women if offered as part of the health insurance system," the researchers write in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Traditionally, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, are used to treat menstrual cramps, but they come with side effects, Witt wrote in her report.

After three months of treatment, the majority of patients receiving acupuncture reported at least a 33 percent improvement in their pain level.

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