In 1989, Tracy returned to his roots in Southern Alberta after spending most of his earlier years in the Calgary area.
After completing a degree in Kinesiology at the University of Calgary and going through multiple knee surgeries due to a football injury, he became interested in the field of prosthetics and orthotics and soon began the program at BCIT. He graduated from BCIT Magna Cum Laude, and after beginning residency in Calgary, joined Lethbridge Orthotics.
Tracy has been certified in Orthotics since 1991 and Prosthetics since 1997. He lends his expertise in Orthotics to the extra special needs of children. After eight knee surgeries, Tracy has extensive experience in elite level knee braces and has been an industry pioneer in developing the cutting edge methodologies of Lethbridge Orthotics.
Due to his background and continued participation in rodeo, Tracy has also developed an elbow brace used by most of the top professional rough stock riders in the world. Over the years Professional Cowboys, an NHL Player, and many University athletes have come to him to get the right brace to keep them performing at an elite level.
Tracy Duce, Certified Orthotist-Prosthetist and co-owner of Lethbridge Orthotic-Prosthetic Services.
Question: How long have you worked at Lethbridge Orthotic-Prosthetic Services for?
I have been in Lethbridge since 1989. So that's 32 years, I've been part of Lethbridge Orthotic-Prosthetic Services.
Question: Why did you choose this career?
I became interested in orthotics and prosthetics, uh, in my last year of university, at the University of Calgary. I became most interested in anatomy and physiology, through my kinesiology degree. And so I was looking for different allied health professions to get into. And when I heard of prosthetics and orthotics it seemed to be a perfect blend of being able to work with my hands and yet be in the in the medical field and use the anatomy and physiology that I was really interested in.
I had worn a knee brace for sports uh for several years. And it also gave me the opportunity to try to build a better brace than what was presently available.
Question: What is your favourite part of your job?
The favourite part of my job is actually seeing somebody's quality of life improve. Like pre covid, I used to get a lot of hugs from especially osteoarthritic knees. When people would come up and just say you, you've given me my life back.
Question: What are some fun facts about yourself?
Fun facts about myself is my dad was a six time Canadian Bareback champion in the rodeo. And we developed an elbow brace for Bareback riders, that all top 20 in the world use. And it's become the number one rodeo elbow brace in the world. And working with the professional cowboys has been a lot of fun.
Another thing about myself is I really enjoy horses and team roping. And that I've team roped, normally all over the United States. Down in Nevada and Arizona and even
down as far as Texas.