Q: What Are Wheelchair Locks?
A: Wheelchair locks are essential components of a wheelchair that provide stability and safety. They are designed to secure the wheelchair in place, preventing it from rolling or moving unintentionally. This is particularly important during transfers.
Q: How Do Wheelchair Locks Work?
A: Wheelchair locks typically consist of handles or levers located near the wheelchair’s push handles. By pushing, pulling or sliding the handles, the brake mechanism is activated, causing the lock pad to press against the wheelchair’s wheels, creating friction and stopping the wheelchair from moving.
Q: What Types Of Wheelchair Brakes Are Available?
A: There are several types of wheelchair locks available, including push-to-lock, pull-to-lock, scissor locks and locking disc. Push-to-lock brakes require the user to push a lever or pedal to engage the brakes, while pull-to-lock brakes require pulling the lever or pedal. Scissor locks have the advantage of becoming completely out of the way when released. Disc locks are a more advanced option, providing complete locking of the wheels.

Push To Lock – Brake
My thoughts: Push to lock and pull to lock are solid brakes that wear well and offer stable holding. My only issue with them is that the lever can sometimes interfere with your push, especially if you are heading uphill.
Pull To Lock – Brake
Scissor Lock – Brake
My thoughts: These brakes lock well and retract under the seat so they are out of the way when you push. Versions of them can also extend out quite a way, so they can handle wider tires or offset wheels. My experience has been that they can wear at the pivoting joints due to the torque placed on them by the long arm extension.
Plastic Molded Scissor Lock
My thoughts: These versions of the scissor lock brakes are my current favorite. They are more reasonably priced that some of the others and I particularly like the knob at the end of the lever that eases locking and unlocking the brake. Since they are plastic, they may not wear as well as the metal variants – although I’ve been able to make repairs using shoulder bolts from my local hardware store.
Anti-Rollback – Brake (incorporates an anti-rollback feature)
My thoughts: I haven’t tried these … but the concept intrigues me. If you are familiar with these, please consider giving us your thoughts in the forum.
Disc – Lock (locks both wheels with a single lever)
My thoughts: I used these locks for several years. They provide a very sure lock – if you have a problem with conventional brakes slipping on the wheels these are for you. They do allow the wheels to rock slightly and they are rather costly ($$$).
A new version of the original “D’s Locks” is available that removes the prone-to-fail plastic splitter and can be found here.