Davis et al. 2020, Sports massage for performance and recovery (systematic review)

BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine systematic review and meta-analysis of 29 randomised studies (about 1,000 participants) on the effect of sports massage on performance and recovery. Massage produced no significant improvement in strength, jump, sprint or endurance performance, and no meaningful change in objectively measured muscle fatigue. It gave small improvements in flexibility (around 7%) and delayed-onset muscle soreness (around 13%), both with high variability across studies. The authors caution athletes and coaches against expecting direct performance gains from massage. Consistent with the wider picture: a real but small, largely perceptual effect, not a recovery or performance intervention.