When I returned to guitar after a hiatus, I was putting in a lot of time, trying to make up for that which was lost, and I encountered a kind of prickly numbness. I mentioned it to my neurologist, whom I saw for headaches already, and he tested me for carpal tunnel. He detected it and prescribed a kind of wrist-stabilizing sleeve, with velcro-closure, for nighttime wear. It's purpose, he said was to eliminate the nerve-pinching, which caused the numbness, by keeping the wrist in its proper position. I tried wearing it, but found it incredibly uncomfortable and actually pain-producing and discontinued wearing it, after consulting the doc again. After telling me to take it easy in playing, with the understanding that I had no intention of giving up guitar unless it was absolutely necessary, he retested me a few months later: the CTS was gone, as was my numbness. Likely, I was just overdoing it in practice. The point, though, is that numbness is something to be concerned about; it could indicate something serious, it could indicate something easily correctable but, in any case, it's a very good idea to advise your doctor that you're experiencing this problem.
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