Question
I just started lifting weights six months ago, and less than two months ago started doing olympic lifts. (including deadlifts, pushpresses, and clean and presses which can basically all be viewed at exrx.net).

Ive been told that technique's most important and ive also been told the ostensibly opposite view...that you should perform the lifts how you naturally do it (basically).

Ive been doing the natural routine for a while and feel great...but the way I do deadlifts for instance is heavy weight crouching somewhat low and using alot of leg power but also using alot of lower back...and not arching the back and puffing the chest out as they show it done on exrx.net.  my back posture is slightly crescent moon shaped (and not in the arched back way) I think...not all the time but when Im doing the lifts at least

So I guess my question is...I really enjoy doing my stuff the way I naturally do it, improper technique or not, and for some reason when I worry too much about posture I become stoic and less myself.  less happy somewhat.  thats a mental problem I have related to OCD I think...but am I really risking really hurting my back doing this improper technique?  
and what does hurting my back typically entail?...its usually either popping out a disk, ripping a tendon or pinching a nerve...and NOT usually hurting the muscle right?  (which of course means its more serious than just pulling a muscle, and similarly builds up over time to become an injury, right?)

If I rambled too much and youre a little lost just tell me-

thanks!


Answer
Dear Jeff Thurber,

Thank you for your question.  Unfortunately, your question is based on some common misconceptions regarding chiropractic, similar to others I have received.  Since I have no information from you on what you already know about this field, in order to give you the greatest benefit in answering, I'll first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.  

There are two branches or schools of thought in chiropractic.  Briefly, they are differentiated by whether they deal with the limited therapeutic approach for aches and pains (commonly termed "mixed" chiropractic because it represents a mixture of a chiropractor with a non-chiropractic matter) or a non-therapeutic approach to optimum body performance (termed "straight" chiropractic because there is no mixing of chiropractic with anything else).  My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is an older approach based on a split from the founding principles of chiropractic about a century ago.

Non-therapeutic "straight" chiropractic is the more modern of the two.  It deals with a particular, common situation called a vertebral subluxation.  The spine is made of many bone segments which house and protect the spinal cord and the smaller spinal nerve branches that come off the spinal cord and exit between the bones.  These nerve pathways carry information or messages between the brain and the cells of the body.  These messages are essential for the life of the cells.  Without vital brain messages, the cells immediately begin the process of dying; i.e., they can no longer function the way they should to maintain life.

Because the bones are moveable, they can misalign in such a way as to interfere with the messages and, ultimately, the ability of the person to function at their best or express their optimum potential.  People with vertebral subluxations are not able to get all they can out of life.

Vertebral subluxations can be caused by a wide variety of factors, what we'll generally call stresses.  These stresses can be physical (such as lifting weights, perhaps, but also sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc.), mental / emotional (in its many forms, probably the most familiar use of the word stress), or chemical (such as pollution, drugs, etc.), which are, unfortunately, regular parts of daily living for all age groups.  In short, a vertebral subluxation can occur for a multitude of reasons.

Tragically, vertebral subluxations are rarely obvious to the individual they affect.  They usually have no symptoms.  The reason is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness.  As an example, try to "feel" your liver.  What's it doing right now?  You can't know, so you can't know if it's functioning at its best or something less.  To complicate things, nerve pathways that carry messages of control (termed "motor" nerves) have no way of transmitting ache or pain messages, so your body function may be far from perfect and you'd not have any alerting signal whatsoever.  In fact, the only reliable and valid way to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation is to have that person's spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis."  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible.  The term for this procedure of effecting a correction of a vertebral subluxation is 揳djustment.?br>
Now that you have more information about the body and vertebral subluxation, how do you make use of it?  Well, first understand that this is not a system of predicting when someone will experience an injury or even trying to categorize or diagnose the nature of an injury.  Are there possibilities for injury in weight lifting ?or other activities, for that matter?  Even though they may be beyond our ability to identify, of course, there are; but pinning them down is not relevant to the matter of whether you would benefit from being free of vertebral subluxations, whether they resulted from an injury event or any other of the many different opportunities that come from daily living.  Vertebral subluxation is, in and of itself, detrimental to life.  

The only way to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation is to have that person's spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis."  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible.  The term for this procedure is 揳djustment.?

Since vertebral subluxations are caused by so many different things, people choose to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor on a regular basis to enjoy the most time free of the life-robbing effects of vertebral subluxation. There's a saying that non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about your back, it's not about your pain, it's about your life.  Each person has a unique potential in life.  With vertebral subluxation, it's impossible to realize that potential.  

The branching of the nerve pathways is complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected by interference.  Certainly, every part of the body must have connections to the nerve system so that vital information may be transmitted between the brain and the cells.  There are some who would attempt to review the possible nerve connections between a nerve root and specific organs or tissues, but this ignores the multitude of variables that determine the expression of function.  The question of how your individual body carries out the myriad of activities just to maintain life is enormous and would require your Creator's (or creator's, for the agnostic) knowledge, or at least far more than our educated knowledge of the complexities of life.

In summary, then, a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor has the professional objective of checking the spine on a regular basis for vertebral subluxations and safely correcting those that are found so that the individual may express their optimum potential on all levels.  

A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone who lifts weights better off with vertebral subluxation / nerve interference or free of subluxation / with the nerve channels open?  It is easy to see that having all the available nerve messages getting through is better than only some of them getting through, regardless of the person's situation otherwise.  So, having one's spine checked for vertebral subluxation is tremendously important, but it's not for the purpose of dealing with the risk of injuries or their effects.  In other words, non-therapeutic straight chiropractic can be of benefit to any spine-owner, but perhaps in ways that you may not have considered.  It's not that you should see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR your risk of injury ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH such matters in your history.  The specific questions you pose about the possibility of injury, then, are perhaps better suited for a personal trainer or therapeutic practitioner.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about advice on lifting or predicting, diagnosing and/or treating injuries or symptoms that follow injuries or any therapeutic-model or medical condition.  It is entirely separate in its goal.  

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to this and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you're going to seek this type of service.  You need to understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different, as described above.  What information I give you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  

It would certainly be wise to have your spine checked for subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor, even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for your injury concerns.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.    

If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area, please contact me at this site again or at [email protected].  

Jeff, I wish you the best in understanding what non-therapeutic straight chiropractic has to offer.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.