There are no exercises that restore joints which are degenerating. Most likely you would have gotten 5-10 more pain-free years without the running, but it would have come anyway at some point. The increased cardio health and bone density does help sweeten the terrible deal though.

Yeah, that I know... though back exercises (keeping disk hydrated) could help with it a lot. But one knows about it post-factum sadly :-)

btw are you aware of any research regarding joints/disc regeneration? Or which pages to follow in that area?

Just a note to encourage you to see a physical therapist, before deciding that there's nothing to do. I've been a jogger since 1971, started having back pain all the time. A physical therapist gave me 15 minutes worth of exercises everyday. Pain gone. Good luck!

I have degenerated disk already so PT and exercises helps somewhat but it's not going away sadly...

Many, many people have such mechanical abnormalities and never experience pain. Many people without such abnormalities do experience pain. There’s surprisingly little association between them.

Yeah, that's another thing that neurologist and neurosurgeon told me... all in all last year changed my perspective on medicine and how much we actually know about our bodies :D

Sorry you can't run. Best wishes.

This type of talk is harmful. The risks of not exercising absolutely dwarf the risks of exercising, and telling people that they are going to injure themselves by “doing it wrong” makes them less likely to exercise.

It also makes them more likely to feel pain, since pain has biological, psychological, and social inputs.