Many women, especially in the West, experience significant physical discomfort during menstruation. The pain, centered in the lower abdomen, is often so severe that it radiates to the thighs and lower back. This condition is medically known as dysmenorrhea (the term comes from the Greek words "dys," meaning "difficult," "meno," meaning "month," and "rrhea," meaning "flow," and can be literally translated as "difficult monthly flow").