Participants in this group will receive somatic movement therapy sessions, including centering and breath awareness, gentle somatic movements (such as pelvic tilts and shoulder rolls), guided body scanning with proprioceptive cues, and mindfulness-based relaxation techniques. The focus will be on body awareness, stress reduction, and mindful movement integration.

Participants in this group will perform structured core strengthening exercises targeting abdominal, pelvic, and lower back muscles. The sessions will include warm-up routines, progressive core activation exercises (e.g., planks, bridges, bird-dog), and cool-down stretches aimed at improving physical stability, reducing musculoskeletal discomfort, and enhancing overall physical function

Participants allocated to Group A will receive a structured Somatic Movement Therapy (SMT) program specifically designed to manage the physiological and psychological manifestations of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Each session will begin with a centering and breath awareness phase lasting 5 to 10 minutes, wherein diaphragmatic breathing is emphasized to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and reduce sympathetic overdrive commonly observed in PMS. It is followed by 15 to 20 minutes of gentle somatic movements. The session then transitions to a body scan and proprioception segment (5-10 minutes), which includes guided internal sensing of different body parts and their spatial orientation, supported by verbal cues or tactile prompts. The session ends by mindfulness and relaxation period (10-15 minutes) adding guided visualization, body integration or meditative stillness.

PSS-10 is a psychological tool, which is a well-established measure of past-month perceptions of stress. It measures the degree to which respondents find their lives to be unpredictable, uncontrollable and overwhelming, and thus is very applicable in assessing the level of stress involved in PMS. It is a 10 item survey that is measured on a 5 point Likert scale and is sensitive to pre and post-intervention changes in stress levels after physical and psychological interventions. The PSS-10 will be useful in this study to assess how the interventions have affected stress perceptions among the participants. Psychometric properties are high, with the Cronbach alpha of 0.78-0.91, which demonstrates a good internal consistency and construct validity of the tool .

The PSST is a widely used clinical tool designed to identify and assess the severity of symptoms associated with Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). It encompasses various physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms that are normally experienced in the luteal stage of the menstrual cycle. Participants evaluate the severity and effects of irritability, bloating, fatigue, mood swings, and sleeping disturbances. Regarding this study, the PSST will be useful in quantifying the symptom burden pre- and post-intervention to enable a comparative study between somatic movement therapy and core strengthening exercises. The PSST has proven to be of high internal consistency with a Cronbach alpha typically being reported to be greater than 0.9, which verifies the reliability and validity of the PSST in both clinical and research contexts.

The WHOQOL-BREF is a standardized tool developed by the World Health Organization to assess quality of life across four domains: physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment. The tool is most applicable in measuring global shifts in well-being, which is critical in assessing the overall impact of interventions on women with PMS. WHOQOL-BREF scores can be used to indicate improvement in mood, pain, stress levels, and physical functioning. The instrument has been tested using a wide range of populations and languages and demonstrated to be highly reliable (Cronbach alpha consistently above 0.7 in all domains) and content and construct validity, which makes it a suitable instrument to assess the quality of life in this study.