Having a massage after exercise may feel good but it has little benefit to muscles, research suggests.

A study, reported in the Weekend section of The Times today, found that massage after exercise could hinder the natural recovery process of the body.

Researchers at Queen’s University in Canada asked 12 men to perform hand-grip exercises while their arm muscles were monitored for blood flow and the build-up of lactic acid, which causes cramping. They found that massage did not improve circulation or help to drain away the lactic acid. They said that massage may have some benefits, but not for the reasons often claimed.

The findings were presented this week at the annual American College of Sports Medicine conference in Seattle.

Previous research has found that massage increases blood flow to the skin but may divert it from the muscles.

Michael Tschakovsky, an associate professor of physiology who led the study at Queen’s in Kingston, Ontario, said: “All the physical therapy professionals that I have talked to, when asked what massage does, answer that it improves muscle blood flow and helps get rid of lactic acid,” he said. “Ours is the first study to challenge this and rigorously test its validity.”

“The belief that massage aids in the removal of lactic acid from muscle tissue is so pervasive [but] there is absolutely no scientific research to back this up.”

The study comes after the NHS watchdog recommended that patients with persistent lower-back pain should be offered a choice of complementary therapies such as acupuncture or massage.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said that despite conflicting theories about how the therapies work, evidence suggests that enough patients benefit to make treatment cost-effective for the NHS.