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Arm rests on wheel chairs are sometime
removable, but not always. Since arm rests
can sometimes come off, they are a poor
place from which to lift or maneuver a
wheelchair. Make sure the patient’s arms
don’t dangle from off the arm rests and get
caught in the wheels where they can
become injured by the moving parts.
Wheelchair handles are the area from which
most of the pushing, pulling, or lifting of the chair
will take place. Use caution when beginning to
move a chair for the first time. In some
wheelchairs, the handles can be loose and come
off during a critical point of a move. This can
cause the MAVO to lose control of the chair and
cause the patient to fall or otherwise become
injured.
The wheels in wheelchairs can be solid or
pneumatic. In some of wheelchairs the
wheels can be either worn or under-inflated,
causing the brakes to engage the wheel
poorly and not brake appropriately.
Leg rests are also sometimes removable in
wheelchairs. When the patient sits in the
chair, at the very least the foot rests should be
folded out of the way so that the patient does
not trip on them. When ready to move the
chair, the foot/leg rests should be placed back
into position, and the patient’s feet should be
placed on the foot rests so that they don’t get
caught under the chair and get injured.
Brakes on wheelchairs are mechanisms that
engage the wheels and prevent them from
spinning. Remember that the brakes in
wheelchairs do not slow a moving wheelchair
but rather prevent a stopped wheelchair from
rolling unexpectedly. You should the test
brakes when you first approach a new
wheelchair to make sure they are reliable and
can stop the chair effectively.
The crossbar is the main folding axis in a
collapsable wheelchair. It allows a chair to be
folded to a fraction of it’s horizontal width.
Since it is a movable part of the wheelchair,
you should not use the crossbar as an
attachment point for tie downs when securing
a wheelchair in the MAV.
The wheelchair frame is the only appropriate
area to secure wheelchair tie downs to. It is
structurally sound, non-movable, and able to
withstand the strong force created by a motor
vehicle collision.
OVERVIEW 3 – Wheelchair Inspection