What type of electric heating pad,if any, do people find to help? And if yes, what brand do you find the most helpful. Also moist heat or dry? Any advice or tips would be great.

Hello, I use Theratherm heating pads, they are moist heat, I have a cervical(wraps around your neck) and a lumbar one, a little pricy but they work good.
Bunz

I am looking for one myself!

My old old one is dying. Afraid to use it in this condition!

I looked on Amazon this morning and found some very scary
reviews about Sunbeam types...starting fires.... 14 of them in fact.

So look at Amazon's listings and take note of the poor CHINESE
versions that are out there now.

Take care!

I think some of those kinds of statistics have to be taken in context, and with a few grains of salt. Did they happen to mention how many of the tens of millions of Sunbeam pads sold didn't start fires? Were they all the same model, or spread across all the models? Were they all current models? Were any of them recalled/redesigned? (Design/production faults are often corrected without any notice/hoopla.) Did they say how many were spontaneous combustion vs. "consumer stupidity"?

I'm not trying to be confrontational, nor do I really want/expect answers. I'm just trying to put some of these matters into perspective (as a designer, and spouse of a Six Sigma Blackbelt)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma

14 out of 10 million is .00014% which is a pretty good safety record for any product. I'll bet there were, in fact, a lot more than 14 fires, but most heating pad mishaps are the result of improper use & worn out components as opposed to defective products. When people make complaints of this nature, they tend to want to blame the product rather than admit their own... culpability(foolishness? lack of common sense?)

They didn't spell it out, but heating pads should also not be covered or wrapped by layers of blankets, clothing etc. for the same "heat trap" reasons.
I even found two websites with detailed instructions & photos on how to circumvent the safety shutoff features!

There will be inherent risks with any mfrs product of this type. Common sense must always apply.

We've had a Sunbeam/Walgreen pad for at least 5 years now, and it's always worked great. We probably don't use it as much as some people (though there are times I think my wife prefers it to me ) We inspect it before every use (as recommended) and when it wears out, it'll get replaced. We have no reservations about buying another Sunbeam, but we'd prudently compare & check it out at the time of purchase, read the warranty, and use common sense.

Doc

What part of the body would you be using it for?

I have used a Infrared Heating Pad for many years now and I do think it helps me much more long term than the regular heating pads.
The effects go deeper into the body & improves cellular actions/ like cleansing of toxins.

I have the one linked below- it does have 3 solid but lightly padded sections, if you need a more flexible pad for smaller areas this style won't work very well.
I have mine on the back of my recliner and lean against it while watching tv. I use it mostly for upper back /shoulder/neck pain.
Dh used it often for his knee injury this summer also.
I bought it in 04 I believe, and no problems at all with pretty regular use, daily and even many x's a day early on.

http://www.amazon.com/Thermotex-Univ...1986904&sr=8-1
(if you scroll down that page there are many other brands & styles to compare.)
other sites with info/products -
http://www.thermotex.com/infrared.htm#key
http://www.therasage.com/Healing-Pad...elts_c_16.html

Well, I think it bears attention. I looked at other sites, and found it common for reviews to be 2 stars out of 5 at most of them for new heating pads. Either they don't warm up, or they spark or catch on fire.

I put this in the same category as the exploding Pyrex recently.
And exploding glass tables!
CHINESE

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread157069.html
Chinese glass (a Chinese company bought the Pyrex trademark recently and changed the recipe too) recently exploding when no one was touching it!

Most pads say to not fold & (of course don't stack heavy things on top of them when in storage...)
but how many really read the care & cautions...

One thing about the infrared heating pads is they don't need to get "hot" to do the job, mine does get slightly warm /comfortable but never to a burning sensation.

I have a plug in Walgreens brand heating pad that is nice because it is very light weight...but the need to plug it in limits when I can use it.

I have a microwave one that I use on my ankle when I leave the house (it has velcro so I can wrap it about my ankle and wear it)...but it's heavy so once I lose the benefit of the heat the thing needs to come off immediately because the weight is painful. Sometimes even the heat isn't beneficial enough for me to wear that one depending on the day...it's all about balancing the lesser of the two evils with that one.

I also use the disposable air activated heating patches that you can buy over the counter. Those can get pricey if you use them a lot...but the benefit is that I can wear them on my other RSD areas (like on my neck, back, etc). Mostly I will put one on my neck before leaving the house in cold weather (under a scarf) because my neck is EXTREMELY sensitive to the cold...but I have used one on my ankle when the weight of the microwave one is too much for me. For these I have found the generic ones are fine...no need to buy the fancy name brands that are more expensive.

But what I find the most useful is my space heater because I can have it one next to the chair and I don't need to have ANYTHING touching me to get the benefit of the heat. Need to be careful with it though because if you are too close you can burn yourself or if you have blankets or anything and they touch it while it's on they can burn or start a fire.

Like everything...when you are dealing with any sort of heat you need to use common sense. Which a lot of people, sad to say, do not seem to have. But I find that heat is very soothing for my RSD areas so it's worth the effort.

Oh...also wanted to add that I recently discovered Columbia's Omni Heat products and they are great. I have a baselayer type top and I bought it one size up from normal (so it's not tight...RSD in the upper body means no more tight clothing) but it fits close enough that I still get the benefit of the heat. It has these little metallic reflecters inside that use your own body heat to keep you warm. It's not as warm as a heating pad or anything...but it helps me from getting cold and covers a much larger area than a heating pad does. And because it does a good job of keeping me warm it means I don't have to load up with as many layers (which can get heavy and painful in their own right after a while). They have other things like socks, pants, shoes, coats, hats...but so far I just have the one shirt and have asked for a pair of the pants for Christmas.

Your mention of a space heater reminded me that there are also infrared space heaters -
http://www.google.com/#q=infrared+sp...w=1360&bih=668

also Far infrared lights, clothing & other products - has info about it too -
http://www.firheals.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=43

There are many other sites w/ similar products and more info, a web search will bring them up.