The main focus of early rehabilitation was passive and active mobilization to a sitting and standing position as early as possible, even if patients continued to require mechanical respiratory support or had a neurological deficit and/or impaired conscious- ness. All patients received rehabilitation in the supine position with head elevation at 30 from the first day after securing of the aneurysm and thereafter in accordance with our stepwise mobilization algorithm as presented in Figure 1. An angle meter was used to determine the degree of head elevation.