Charususin N, et al. - In this double-blind, multicentre randomised controlled trial, researchers tested adjunctive inspiratory muscle training (IMT) for its ability to enhance the well-established benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in patients with COPD. They randomised COPD patients (FEV₁: 42%±16% predicted) with inspiratory muscle weakness (PImax: 51±15 cm H₂O) into an intervention group (IMT+PR; n=110) or a control group (Sham-IMT+PR; n=109). They observed that adjunctive IMT did lead to improvements in respiratory muscle function but these improvements did not translate into additional improvements in 6 min walking distance. Other outcomes observed in the intervention group included additional gains in endurance time and reductions in symptoms of dyspnoea during an endurance cycling test.