[Nike007]

Pretty big trigger warning.

I am not sure if this is considered abuse, but I’m pretty sure it is. I haven’t told anyone about this before...

So it all started about me, when I was little and first learned to walk. It was good, but my parents noticed that I couldn’t walk straight like a “normal” human. My feet were turned outwards. So they took me to a doctor, and the doctor said that I would outgrow of it. They believed them.

But a few years passed, and nothing changed. I still walked differently. So they took me to a doctor, and the doctor said that I could “force myself to turn my feet inwards” and that it was just a habit. So my parents told me I needed to do this or I needed a leg brace, and people would make fun of me if I had a leg brace. So I would force my foot to turn inwards. I was about 10 at the time.

At this time, my dad was watching NCIS, a show that I do really like, and one of the things in the show is called a “Gibbs slap”. It’s when you slap a person on the back of the head.

Possible trigger:

So every time my dad would notice me not walking straight, he would hit the back of my head, pretty hard. I didn’t know it was coming either. And sometimes, I thought I would fall down from him hitting me. He then would say to walk straight. So I did do that. It really hurt my legs to do that, but I didn’t want to be hit. This happened for years I believe. I couldn’t walk in front of my dad because I believed he would hit my head really hard. This would happen in public. Never at home. No one said anything... Every time I saw his hand move up, I would flinch in fear of being hit. I believed this was a normal thing for parents to do, until a law class I had where it said that parents couldn’t hit a child’s head or else it was abuse or assault.

This randomly stopped one day. It hasn’t happened again. I’m still close to my dad though, as I haven’t thought much of it until now. Something traumatic happened some time ago, and I guess I’m starting to remember this. I don’t know if this is a symptom, but I don’t really remember much before that started. That also started though when my parents got divorced, so maybe my memory issues are linked to this, I don’t know.

But anyways, a few years later, I learned about this medical condition that causes your foot to turn outwards called external tibial torsion. It’s when your leg bone is twisted outwardly, so the socket and bone don’t align properly, which causes this outward foot twisting. It causes me to have knee pain. I asked my doctor about it, and she said physical therapy could help. So I saw a physical therapist, and she said I did have this condition.

So I suffered from being hit repeatedly because of a condition no one told me or my family about...

What should I do about this?

[Buffy01]

Originally Posted by Nike007

Pretty big trigger warning.

I am not sure if this is considered abuse, but I’m pretty sure it is. I haven’t told anyone about this before...

So it all started about me, when I was little and first learned to walk. It was good, but my parents noticed that I couldn’t walk straight like a “normal” human. My feet were turned outwards. So they took me to a doctor, and the doctor said that I would outgrow of it. They believed them.

But a few years passed, and nothing changed. I still walked differently. So they took me to a doctor, and the doctor said that I could “force myself to turn my feet inwards” and that it was just a habit. So my parents told me I needed to do this or I needed a leg brace, and people would make fun of me if I had a leg brace. So I would force my foot to turn inwards. I was about 10 at the time.

At this time, my dad was watching NCIS, a show that I do really like, and one of the things in the show is called a “Gibbs slap”. It’s when you slap a person on the back of the head.

Possible trigger:

So every time my dad would notice me not walking straight, he would hit the back of my head, pretty hard. I didn’t know it was coming either. And sometimes, I thought I would fall down from him hitting me. He then would say to walk straight. So I did do that. It really hurt my legs to do that, but I didn’t want to be hit. This happened for years I believe. I couldn’t walk in front of my dad because I believed he would hit my head really hard. This would happen in public. Never at home. No one said anything... Every time I saw his hand move up, I would flinch in fear of being hit. I believed this was a normal thing for parents to do, until a law class I had where it said that parents couldn’t hit a child’s head or else it was abuse or assault.

This randomly stopped one day. It hasn’t happened again. I’m still close to my dad though, as I haven’t thought much of it until now. Something traumatic happened some time ago, and I guess I’m starting to remember this. I don’t know if this is a symptom, but I don’t really remember much before that started. That also started though when my parents got divorced, so maybe my memory issues are linked to this, I don’t know.

But anyways, a few years later, I learned about this medical condition that causes your foot to turn outwards called external tibial torsion. It’s when your leg bone is twisted outwardly, so the socket and bone don’t align properly, which causes this outward foot twisting. It causes me to have knee pain. I asked my doctor about it, and she said physical therapy could help. So I saw a physical therapist, and she said I did have this condition.

So I suffered from being hit repeatedly because of a condition no one told me or my family about...

What should I do about this?

I would report them to the authority. I would also stand up to them by informing them they can no longer be in my life due to the abuse that i suffer from for years. I would also bring to their attention what really happen and why it happen ask the doctor to put it in writing or call them informed them of the medical condition. I would also see if you could be set with a counselor who deal with abuse.

[MtnTime2896]

I don't think anyone can tell you what to do about this. Only you can do that. You can sit on this issue and never address it outside of a safe place. You could confront your father and educate him on why you walk that way. You could do either of these at your own pace or do something completely different.

I can say that what your father did was wrong and it was abuse. No matter what was going on in his life, you shouldn't have taken the brunt of it.

[nicoleflynn]

You could write him a letter of "restorative justice" restorative justice says....this is what you did, this is how it made me feel. The letter is for YOU; I think it helps to take your power back, and as a child you had no power. Usuallyconfronting someone about their abuse...they will deny and explain; with a letter you get what you need to say....said without interruption.