Massage rubs researchers the wrong way.

If you love that post-workout massage as much as The Fitness Nerd does, you might take umbrage at a new study out of Canada's Queen's University claiming that post-workout massages aren't all they're cracked up to be.

The belief that massage aids in the removal of lactic acid from muscle tissue is so pervasive it is even listed on the Canadian Sports Massage Therapists website as one of the benefits of massage, despite there being absolutely no scientific research to back this up.

Kinesiology MSc candidate Vicky Wiltshire and Dr. Tschakovsky set out to discover if this untested hypothesis was true, and their results show that massage actually impairs blood flow to the muscle after exercise, and that it therefore also impairs the removal of lactic acid from muscle after exercise.

The good doctors will be reporting their findings at the Annual College of Sports Medicine conference in Seattle, Washington this May.  Expect a large contingent of very relaxed protesters vaguely smelling of coconut oil to attend.