Comprehensive understanding of disc degeneration and low back pain requires knowledge about both the mechanical and the biological factors that may affect tissue maintenance. In the present study, a coupled intervertebral disc model with a porohyperelastic formulation (mechanics) and a glycolitic metabolic transport and cell viability (biology) was used. Mechanotransduction phenomena were investigated. Boundary conditions and disc model characteristics, both inspired from an organ culture experiment, were introduced. The model predicted cell death in the most compressed region of the intervertebral disc, in agreement with the simulated experiment. Such result was attributed to a local effect of reduced metabolites diffusion when coupled to local mechanics in the porohyperelastic disc. Direct force sensing by the cells was explored and was shown to potentially extend the risk area in terms of cell death. The study contributes to the elucidation of mechanotransduction phenomena in the spine, and paves the way to biophysical developments, highly relevant to mechanobiology-inspired treatments of low-back pain.