No more spinal loading?

Hey Mark, long time reader; first time poster.

This past December I injured myself while deadlifting, I let my ego get in the way and tried to lift more than I should have. Here's a picture from the MRI I had back in February:
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6100/spinepic.png

Sorry if the quality isn't good. Anyway, the results showed that I had a crack in the L4, L5 spinal columns. Not quite a spinal fracture, but still bad enough to cause some of the worst pain I've experienced. The doctor didn't seem to think too much of it and said I was cleared to do anything.

I went light for a while, but probably not long enough. It's June now and I still sometimes get an aching, dull pain in that section of my back the day after heavy lifting sessions.

I've figured that the best way to rid myself of this pain for good is to drop all exercises that involve loading the lumbar spine. Unfortunately, that seems to eliminate 3 of the 4 major lifts.

Is this advisable? Or should I just try doing lighter loads with higher reps for a while? If no to the last question, what exercises would you advise to replace them? Single-leg squats? What about cardio? Would hiit be too stressful?

Sorry for all the questions there, I just want to cover all my bases. I hope I'm not overreaching by asking you all these.

If you drop all exercises that involve spinal loading, you can't do barbell training and the spine will never have to adapt to being loaded. You'll have to decide.

I don't get this. Your lumbar spine is loaded just with walking around with your own upper body. Are not going to bend over anymore?

There must be some weight that you can squat, press, deadlift that doesn't cause pain. If it's not that much weight then do it often. The more you can stimulate (without aggravating) it the better/faster it will heal. Bone injuries heal slowly so be prepared to be patient.

Sounds more like an ego problem than an injury problem.