Between The Lines

When Both Professions Feel Alone

And how collaboration can soften isolation rather than deepen it

Animal rehabilitation is often described as interdisciplinary work.
In practice, it can feel surprisingly isolating.

Both physical therapists and veterinarians enter this field with deep commitment, advanced training, and a genuine desire to improve the lives of animals and the people who love them. Yet many professionals on both sides quietly experience their work as solitary—carrying responsibility, uncertainty, and emotional weight largely on their own.

The loneliness looks different for each profession, but its impact is shared.

Veterinarians are trained to carry ultimate responsibility. Diagnosis, medical decision-making, and patient outcomes live on their license. Even in collaborative environments, the veterinarian remains accountable for what happens next. This responsibility often limits opportunities to think out loud, process uncertainty, or slow down. Over time, decision-making becomes internalized. Questions are held quietly. The work moves forward, but the weight accumulates.

Physical therapists experience a different kind of isolation.

PTs are trained in collaborative cultures. In human medicine, physical therapists routinely debrief cases together, reflect on what worked and what didn’t, and normalize uncertainty as part of clinical reasoning. When PTs move into veterinary settings—especially as the only PT in a clinic or hospital—that shared processing often disappears. Their language may not be shared. Their expertise may not be fully understood. Their insights may go unspoken simply because there is no obvious place to put them.

Both professions may feel unseen—just in different ways.

A veterinarian may feel solely responsible, with no room to set the burden down.

A physical therapist may feel peripheral, unsure when or how their voice fits.

Without awareness, these parallel experiences of isolation can be misread as disinterest, resistance, or lack of respect. In reality, they often reflect structural differences in training and culture—not personal failure or unwillingness to collaborate.

When collaboration is intentional, isolation softens.

Veterinarians gain trusted partners in managing functional complexity—professionals who can support recovery beyond diagnosis and medication. Physical therapists gain medical context, diagnostic clarity, and a sense that their movement expertise belongs within the care team. Patients benefit from aligned care that addresses both medical and functional needs.

Loneliness does not resolve through efficiency.
It resolves through recognition.

Animal rehabilitation does not require either profession to give up responsibility or identity. It requires spaces—small but consistent—where responsibility can be shared appropriately, and where no one is expected to hold everything alone.

Action Steps

For Physical Therapists

Recognize the weight veterinarians carry.
Responsibility for diagnosis and outcomes shapes communication and availability.

Create external professional community.
When you are the only PT in a veterinary setting, peer support outside the workplace is essential.

Offer collaboration without urgency.
Trust grows when connection is consistent rather than forced.

For Veterinarians

Acknowledge that PTs often work without peer support.
Even small invitations for input reduce isolation.

Create brief, protected moments for collaboration.
A short check-in or shared discharge can make a meaningful difference.

Model interdisciplinary respect.
How collaboration is framed influences team culture and client trust.

A Shared Collaborative Approach

Create one intentional point of connection.
Whether it’s a weekly case check-in, a shared conversation with a client, or a coffee outside the clinic, deliberate connection builds familiarity—and familiarity reduces isolation over time.