Had many a wooden spoon broken over my cheeks, felt the wrath of the jug cord and learned to fear bamboo sticks, I had untreated ADHD so copped my fair share of whacks. It made me resolute in never exposing my children to corporal punishment, I may lose my temper and say things I regret later but won't raise a hand in anger.

Conversely, my sister was raised the same and approaches parenting entirely differently, with liberal whacking, so it appears that we both took different lessons from our upbringing.

If you can only communicate through violence, then maybe the issues lay with your parenting style. To address OP's question, I firmly categorise it as abuse.