Lifting technique and injury questions

[topherchris]

The direct causal relationship between 'poor' form and injury has recently come under scrutiny, and justifiable so. There have been so many exercises such as upright rows, round back deadlifts, and behind the neck presses that are demonized as inherently harmful, yet we see many populations (such as in weightlifting, crossfit, and strongmen) where these 'dangerous' exercises are often used, and yet there hasn't been a mass migration into snap city because of it. There's also good reason to believe that giving people the expectation that improper form will cause injury will do more harm than good, by instilling fear avoidance behaviors and so on.

That being said, does there exist any relationship between technique and injury?

Could technique breakdown be a symptom of improper fatigue/load management? For example if your form holds up at 5 sets, but you insist on lifting 7 sets with some breakdown, can we say that may predispose you to injury because your volume is such that you can't maintain 'proper' form?

Can lifting with obvious inefficient technique for performance (for example squatting on your toes) predispose one to injury by emphasizing loads in positions where you aren't the strongest? Or is that just an issue of not having been adapted to those loads, and can be addressed with appropriately managing training load/fatigue?

Hopefully these questions make sense. Thanks!

[Austin Baraki]

This has been discussed quite a bit here recently.

https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/forums/pain-and-rehab-q-a-with-dr-derek-miles-and-dr-michael-ray/26120-pain-and-technique

https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/forums/pain-and-rehab-q-a-with-dr-derek-miles-and-dr-michael-ray/25530-influence-of-exercise-technique-on-risk-of-injury