We’ve all heard the myth that swimming is the best form of exercise.  It’s better for some people with certain health conditions, and it has been used in physical therapy, because it provides a certain benefit of its own and a certain resistance in general taking some workouts up to the next level, that part is actually true.  But frankly, it’s not the perfect workout.  If you are overweight, pregnant, have arthritis, have a herniated disk, or something like that, it’s definitely not the best thing you can do.  Breaststrokes among other things can actually aggravate some of these problems.  Unfortunately, there is no exercise that fits every need by any means.  They can adjust certain programs like yoga to be more appropriate for those with certain issues, but there are still limitations and adjustments in general.  If you have a particular problem, you may want to avoid harder cardio exercises.  You could do something as simple as walking on softer ground such as grass.  In addition, you could try actually doing exercises to strengthen the muscles around the back or other problem areas rather than avoiding them.  Generally speaking, people avoid the areas of pain.  But in general terms, you want to strengthen, not weaken those muscles, and it will definitely help in various different ways.