“Maybe now you’ll learn your place,” my mother-in-law sneered after my husband attacked me while I held our sick baby post-surgery. Weak and trembling, I locked us in the room and dialed one number. Minutes later, heavy boots kicked down the front door, and my husband’s face went pale as my father walked in wearing his general’s uniform and said…

were a grueling exercise in physical and psychological endurance.

My body belonged to a stranger. It was stiff, defensive, and pulsing with chronic pain. Physical therapy began under the guidance of Amanda, a specialist who treated trauma survivors. Every session was an uphill climb. Rebuilding the shredded core muscles meant facing the phantom sensation continue reading …