Poor quality lower disc, doctor said to not lift heavy. Can I still workout?

[GetYokedBoi]

Ok, so for a long time now I've had lower back pain, and about a year ago I went to a specialist and got x-rays. The results came back saying I have a bad lower disc, giving the example of how discs are like tires. Some are Michelins, and others are, well, crappy and wear out easily. His advice was to basically don't lift heavy (or more generally, if it hurts don't do it). I'm trying to work around it, but its hard. I can only get up until 135 on squats before the pain starts to come back, and I DO NOT wan't to injure anything with my spine further. I stopped deadlifting (I know I know), and do kettle bell swings instead. Instead of doing bent over rows, I do cable rows which don't cause pain. Military and bench (and isolations) do not cause any pain, so I've been making progress on those. I am just curious does anyone have any advice? Any stretches to strengthen my lower back so I can keep squatting and deadlifting? I miss progressing as a whole. Would a weight belt help, or would it just cause more damage as I'm just masking the pain.

My workout plan is ICF, which I really like so far.

Any advice is much appreciated.

[Xuaxace]

Lifting properly is good for the back, the notion that heavy lifting wears them out is outdated and doesn't seem the discs as a structure that can adapt to stress, which it does.

I don't know the specifics of your low back pain, but blaming pain on a structure based on imaging is something a lot of physiotherapists and doctors are fighting against.

THere could be a lot of reasons for your back pain that are not related to the disc - If i was your physio, the first thing I would want to know is your lifting technique, try to figure out a movement pattern/direction aggrivates you, are there any psychosocial components that might be potentiating your pain (e.g fear of moving, excesive guarding, stress, smoking status, sleep status etc).

[GetYokedBoi]

Lifting properly is good for the back, the notion that heavy lifting wears them out is outdated and doesn't seem the discs as a structure that can adapt to stress, which it does.

I don't know the specifics of your low back pain, but blaming pain on a structure based on imaging is something a lot of physiotherapists and doctors are fighting against.

THere could be a lot of reasons for your back pain that are not related to the disc - If i was your physio, the first thing I would want to know is your lifting technique, try to figure out a movement pattern/direction aggrivates you, are there any psychosocial components that might be potentiating your pain (e.g fear of moving, excesive guarding, stress, smoking status, sleep status etc).

Good insight. I'm was just going with what my doctor said. Should I see a therapist, and show them my x-rays? I've been training for 5 years or so. I've had my form checked by many, many people who know what they're doing, and they all said my I was doing things right.The only thing I can think of that had mediocre form was pendley rows, as that was always an odd movement for me. None of those other things I believe affect my pain. The common theme seems to be when I put too much stress on my lower back (lean over and stay there for a few seconds), or anything related it starts to hurt. Thank you for your reply