Mary Ann Caca

Mary Ann has 10 years of experience and has worked in a variety of multidisciplinary clinics, including with sporting teams in AFL, soccer and basketball. She treats a wide variety of musculoskeletal dysfunction, as well as acute and chronic muscular injuries.

She utilises a combination of manual therapy techniques to help patients increase mobility, reduce pain and improve their overall health and wellbeing. Her passion is to provide effective treatment plans for her clients, so her main goal is to keep acquiring knowledge in order to deliver the best results possible.

Qualifications

I'm a member of Massage & Myotherapy Australia (MMA), and I keep studying. I am currently completing my Advanced Diploma of Myotherapy.

Diploma of Remedial Massage
Advanced Diploma of Myotherapy
Certified Manual Lymphatic Drainage Practitioner
Certified Dry Needling Provider
Functional Movement Therapist
Certificate III & IV in Fitness
Member, Massage & Myotherapy Australia (MMA)

My philosophy

I believe the quality of care I provide begins with the quality of the practitioner I continue to become. Every patient deserves a high standard of assessment, treatment and clinical care.

To uphold this standard, I remain committed to ongoing professional development through advanced education, clinical training and hands-on workshops. Continually refining my knowledge, clinical reasoning and practical skills allows me to conduct thorough assessments, make informed clinical decisions and develop individualised treatment plans based on each patient's presentation, needs and goals.

For me, ongoing learning is a professional commitment to continually improving my clinical practice and providing the highest standard of evidence-informed, patient-centred care to every person who places their trust in me.

My story

Years ago in Perth I tore my ACL playing basketball, and I went looking for help the way most people do. I booked the appointments, sat in the waiting rooms, and told the same story again and again.

I tried to explain what I was feeling. I tried to describe how it moved, where it caught, what it stopped me from doing. I could see people nodding without really hearing me. I started to feel like a knee instead of a person. I felt left out of conversations that were about my own life, and I felt like nobody in the room actually cared what happened to me next.

The doctors I saw were fantastic. They had the qualifications, the training, and the reputations, and on paper they were everything you would hope for. Even so, qualifications do not automatically become care. On the day that still sits with me, they gave me 20%. They gave 20% of their attention, 20% of their curiosity, and 20% of the clinician they were capable of being. They did not listen, and they moved through the appointment as if my job was to accept the plan and theirs was to deliver it.

I realised that skill alone is not care. You can be brilliant and still leave someone feeling invisible. You can be right about the diagnosis and completely wrong about the person. What I needed that day was not more qualifications on a wall. I needed one person to slow down, sit with me, and listen like my answer mattered.

That is the moment I decided who I was going to be.

Every single patient who walks through my door is treated as a VIP. Not the difficult cases, not the interesting cases, not the ones with the best chance of a great outcome. Every one of them. I listen first and I listen properly. I ask about your life, not just your injury. I want to know what you are trying to get back to, because that is the actual goal, and the treatment plan is only the road that gets you there.

What to expect

Assessment first. Treatment second.

I believe effective treatment begins with understanding why your pain developed. Every appointment begins with a detailed assessment.

This may include:

Movement assessment
Functional testing
Postural assessment
Gait analysis
Palpation
Muscle testing
Orthopaedic testing
Neurological screening (when appropriate)
Lifestyle assessment
Training history
Work demands
Previous injuries

This allows me to identify movement dysfunction, muscle imbalances and compensation patterns that may be contributing to your symptoms. Only then do I decide which treatment techniques are most appropriate.

Your appointment, step by step

However you found your way here, the shape of a first appointment is the same.

We talk it through

A detailed health and injury history covering what hurts, how long it has been there, previous injuries, your work demands and training history, and what you need to get back to.

A thorough assessment

Movement and functional testing, postural assessment, gait analysis, palpation, muscle testing and relevant orthopaedic testing, with neurological screening where it's appropriate.

Treatment chosen from the findings

Only once I understand your presentation do I decide which techniques are most appropriate, including soft tissue and myofascial work, trigger point therapy, dry needling, cupping, joint mobilisation or muscle energy techniques.

A plan you understand

You leave knowing what I found and why, with an individualised management plan that may include corrective exercise, mobility work or movement retraining matched to your goals and physical demands.

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