I had carpel tunnel in both wrists several years back and was wearing wrist
braces at night because the pain would be so bad. My hands would often go
numb from time to time too. It turned out I was over gripping my paddle and
that's what caused it for me. Since I mainly paddle whitewater I knew I
wasn't going to stop over gripping so I went from a straight shaft to a bent
shaft paddle staying at 45 degrees and the carpel tunnel went away in about
4 months. Since I have smaller hands and there are more option in paddles
now a days I've since gone to a small shaft bent shaft and that has really
relieved much of my over gripping.

Courtney