Barefoot and Footsore

As a kid, summer meant running around outside barefoot, and being barefoot was freedom itself. We'd even brave hopping around on the hot asphalt next to the ice cream truck for five minutes if it meant hours of cool grass between our toes to follow after. Once my father told us we could get ringworm running around barefoot so much, and that spoiled it for a while. Since he didn't explain what ringworm was, we naturally pictured really agressive earthworms with ravening fangs, ready to burrow up through the bottoms of our feet. In the end, the call of the cool grass won out, so we just told him we'd decided to run around barefoot really fast.

However, it's been a while since I've found being barefoot particularly attractive. In the past few years especially, issues with hip dysplasia, etc. have made it much nicer for me to walk around in supportive shoes, often with orthotics. And I've spent a lot of money on shoes to do massage in, while skimping on other needed household items, since my work is my passion, and I want this body to last.

Ironic then, that I should recently find myself working as an independent contractor in a space where no one wears shoes. It's a comfortable, spa-type environment with a shoe rack by the door and a basket of slippers to encourage clients and employees to relax, feel and home, and probably not wear out the carpet. Which would be great if I didn't find working barefoot painful. And the whole issue is doubly ironic since I've worked at places before where therapists wanted to work barefoot and weren't allowed to do so--now I've landed rather in the opposite camp (which I didn't know existed).

I'm not exactly sure how to handle this problem at the moment. I've tried working barefoot, but it feels odd and my back hurts. I've tried taking off my shoes at the door, carrying them to my workspace, and putting them on during massage. But frequently I forget I'm wearing them and trot out to wash my hands in my Danskos. Has anyone ever heard of orthotic socks? This is one of those relatively little things that could end up driving me and my low back batty.