La Torre Orthopedic Laboratory

COMPREHENSIVE PROSTHETIC AND ORTHOTIC CARE

La Torre Orthopedic Laboratory has been providing the most current prosthetic and orthotic technologies to upstate New York since 1920.

Now in our fourth generation of practice, our caring and highly skilled prosthetists and orthotists strive to provide our patients with the best possible quality of life.

HISTORY

La Torre Orthopedic was established in 1920 by Domenico La Torre, who immigrated to the United States in 1914 from Italy. Domenico came to America with great hand skills and a tremendous will to work. He became an apprentice, then a technician and finally received recognition as an exceptionally skilled craftsman in the art of custom bootmaking, especially for the physically challenged.

In 1920, Domenico went out on his own and founded La Torre Orthopedic Laboratory, where he specialized in creating custom shoes and bootmaking, primarily for the disabled. In the 1950s, his son, Richard La Torre, took the next logical step and turned La Torre Orthopedic into a Orthotic and Prosthetics Practice. Richard La Torre took the first pioneering orthotic and prosthetic course study at The Institute for the Crippled and Disabled in New York, and then took the earliest courses offered at NYU, Northwestern University, and UCLA. La Torre Orthopedic was aptly named, in that it became a practice willing to experiment with new applications, especially in the start of polymers. The practice had many early innovative successes that were eagerly shared in the field. Richard became well known across the entire field for his drive and desire to improve the field of orthotics and prosthetics. Richard and his wife, Kay La Torre, ran La Torre Orthopedic for almost 50 years revolutionizing many areas of the field.