On 13-Jul-2004, "Courtney" wrote:

I was diagnosed with carpel tunnel some years ago which was affecting me day
and night. I switched to a bent shaft and over a period of 3 to 6 months my
carpel tunnel subsided completely. Several years after that I switched from
a 45 degree paddle to a 30 degree only because I felt it worked better for
me play boating. I've known of other paddlers that have benefited from bent
shafts for their carpel tunnel as well.

I should have said "doesn't help _as_much_ for carpal tunnel" compared to
fixing the feather. If your wrists aren't flexing and you aren't gripping too
tightly, straightening the wrist has less effect. If you have too much or
too little feather, then straightening the wrist will help reduce the stress,
but fixing the feather gives the most gain.

My advice would be to fix the feather angle first and if there's still a problem,
try the bent shaft.

Mike