Skeletal muscle dysfunction acquired during critical illness (intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired weakness, ICUAW) plays a pivotal role in clinical outcomes such as liberation from mechanical ventilation, ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, physical function and mortality.1 2 ICUAW is a common complication of critical illness with a complex aetiology,3 affecting both limb muscles as well as respiratory muscles. The decline in muscle mass is approximately 2%–4% per day in the first week of ICU stay.4 5 Loss of limb muscle mass is more pronounced in patients with multiple organ failure,4 while a rapid decline in diaphragm muscle strength and thickness is associated with sepsis6 and low diaphragm contractile activity.5 Strategies to prevent or treat ICUAW are scarce and mostly focused on the treatment or reduction of risk factors associated with ICUAW...