Other uses for Healing Surges

Great overview of alternative ways to use Healing Surges. http://www.roleplayingpro.com/2009/09/22/the-healing-surge-dm%E2%80%99s-little-helper/

That being said, we've yet to encounter heavy usage of Healing Surges. I'm not sure if it's because we are resetting between gaming sessions and so they really don't have as much time to run down or if it's because the player's just really aren't taking that much damage. In fact, the damage department seems either feast or famine.

I've heard that defender classes should feel like they are being knocked down and pop right back up, but the one time we've seen that the players felt the encounter was much too hard. I'm still struggling to get the feel of the combat just right.