community spotlight

As cohost with Warren Pierce of the Pain Free Life Show (WJR 760 AM) and the director of Pain Free Life Centers, Jeff Morton has a message worth repeating: There is an alternative to opioids, injections and surgery to manage pain. High-Dose Laser Therapy is the alternative he has researched and opened four locations to provide since 2012. Pain Free Life Centers is the only Michigan clinic to use High-Dose rather than low-dose Laser Therapy to treat pain from various conditions, including sciatica, arthritis, and neuropathy, just to name a few.

How did you become interested in high- dose laser therapy?
I first learned about laser therapy about 15 years ago when I had a 185-pound mas- tiff that had hip dysplasia. In a year she couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom, so I turned to a veterinarian. He had a little laser that he was using for small dogs and cats, and he said, “I’ve never used it on a big animal like this. We could try it.” Long story short, after a couple of months of treatment, she was pain free.

In 2003 when the FDA cleared laser therapy on humans, I really threw myself into the research and development of how the laser works, creating photobiomodulation and the whole physiological change effect it had. Science has proven that human cells respond to light, so for me, it just seemed like a natural way to heal.

Photobiomodulation is the human version of photosynthesis with plants. I’ve been involved with the use of lasers since 2003 and there’s thousands of clinical studies that prove High-Dose Laser Therapy is not anecdotal. It is a modality that helps heal the body at the cellular level by increasing blood flow and reducing inflammation.

How does laser therapy reach the source of pain without cutting skin?
High-Dose Laser Therapy is a nonsurgical procedure. Even though the energy from the light creates heat, it cannot damage or cut the skin. We have trained, certified technicians administer it.

The exclusive High-Dose Laser Therapy that we use is specifically designed to reduce inflammation and promote healing. The laser penetrates sub-dermally (below the skin) to the damaged cells. This allows the cell to produce more oxygen, which increases the adenosine triphosphate. This process can take an unhealthy cell and give it the energy it needs to become healthy.

What are some surprising success stories with High-Dose Laser Therapy?
One patient, Tim Studer, was a gravel truck driver. About 12 years ago he fell off his gravel truck and tore his rotator cuff and his bicep tendon and fractured three vertebrae in his back. The doctors surgically implanted a cage in his back. In doing so, they nicked his spinal cord. Tim is allergic to opioids, so he couldn’t take anything for the pain. They wound up putting in a pump to pump the leaking spinal fluid back into the spinal cord. For the past 12 years this man suffered with chronic pain and not a single doctor would take his case. He was the worst back patient we had ever treated!

Within a few weeks, Tim was able to drive from Adrian to Brighton to get treated and he was able to pick up and play with his grand kid. He was so happy with his results that he offered to drive from Adrian to the Detroit Fisher building to be a guest on our radio show. We were literally able to give him his life back. We’ve had people that couldn’t walk 20 feet to the end of their driveway to get the mail and 10 weeks later…they’re playing golf or going bowling. I could share story after story after story.

What do you see in the future for Pain Free Life Centers?
We were awarded a contract with a service-disabled veteran–owned small business out of Maryland called Spartan Medical. We are their official pain management and wound care division.

I see Pain Free Life Centers growing nationally, helping our veterans, treating them with High-Dose Laser Therapy instead of opioids, injections and unnecessary surgeries. We want people to make Pain Free Life Centers their first choice, not their last resort. We are so sure in what we do that your first consultation and treatment are free. You have nothing to lose but the pain.

Pain Free Life Centers has locations in Troy, Shelby Township, Brighton and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

For more information, email them directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit their website, PainFreeLifeCenters.com.

Darla Nagel is a Michigan-based editor/writer for Natural Awakenings.