Welcome to the forums...
Tech. yes... you can. But the wear you will put on the old struts/shocks will be almost tripple fold... You will be wearing the springs out faster too...
Your car will have no response to bumps... only bounches due to the springs...
Shocks/struts are very important.
For more information pertaining to suspension as a whole... go to
www.howstuffworks.com... they have a very generalized explaination that helps a lot and explains a lot.
Good Luck,
Les