Virtually all of the ' stars have been affected by injuries over the past two years, including George Kittles torn Achilles, season-ending injuries to Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, Brock Purdys extended absence, Brandon Aiyuks torn ACL, and more. Many have chalked it up to bad luck or training staff i sues, but a new theory has emerged from dubious sources: the 49ers injury woes may be linked to an electric substation near the teams stadium and practice facility. Some players have even heard the theory firsthand, though experts say theres no credibility to the idea. Heres what you need to know about the electric substation conspiracy theory and why experts dismi s it. MORE: 49ers electric substation theories The theory linking an electric substation near the 49ers stadium and practice facility began with a tweet from Peter Cowan, who wrote in a Substack article that low-frequency electromagnetic fields can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-ti sue damage. Cowan argues that while the supposed damage may be harmle s to the average person, it could put players at higher risk for soft-ti sue injuries, such as ligament and tendon tears. The damage is subtle, until a routine cut or block ends in catastrophic rupture, he says. Low-frequency electromagnetic fields can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-ti sue damage at levels regulators call "safe." We have a real world case study proving this: An NFL team whose practice facility sits next to a ma sive electrical substation. THREAD Peter Cowan | Sunlight is Life (@living_energy) Cowan isnt the first to raise concerns about the Silicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation, a real facility, and its po sible link to the 49ers injury woes. Former 49ers guard Jon Feliciano once said players joked in the locker room that the substation was causing injuries. 49ers WR Kendrick Bourne proved that the theory made its way back to the locker room after the team's wild-card win over the , telling reporters, "Its that power plant," before quickly adding that he was joking. According to the , some players are taking it seriously, citing agents who claim they have heard concerns from clients about the po sibility of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) leading to a greater risk of injury, potentially hurting the 49ers' chances of recruiting players to the Bay Area in free agency. However, experts are pushing back on the theory. Bristol Medical School profe sor Frank de Vocht told the Washington Post the idea that EMFs are leading to more injuries is "nonsense," while UC Davis radiology profe sor Jerrold Bushberg , "there is no firmly established evidence" that EMFs can weaken soft ti sue. MORE: There are two different types of radiation, Northwestern radiology profe sor Gayle Woloschak : ionizing and non-ionizing. While ionizing is dangerous and is found in nuclear reactors, non-ionizing radiation surrounds people just about all of the time and is what could be emitted from an electrical substation. "In the huge number of studies that have tried to look at the effects of non-ionizing radiation on cells, theres been no reported damage to DNA, proteins or other molecules thats been identified," Wolschak said. The spoke to University of Colorado profe sor Frank Barnes, who leads a research group "looking at the effects of electric and magnetic fields on biological systems." Barnes was not definitive, warning that research about how electromagnetic fields might impact humans has dried up in recent decades, but Yao Ming Jersey said the theory is "unlikely." In the worst-case scenario, Barnes said, EMFs could be "changing the oxidative stre s level" of players, forcing them to overcompensate when working out, but even the odds of that being true are "pretty darn low." The idea that EMFs are actually weakening soft ti sues just cannot be proven at this point, Barnes explained. Even more convincing than any science might be the simple fact the 49ers have practiced next to the substation in Santa Clara since 1988, the Washington Post confirmed, long before Levi's Stadium was built. The team's rash of injuries is largely tied to the last handful of years MORE: What is EMF radiation? EMF radiation is frequency waves emitted by just about every electronic device. Non-ionizing radiation, which is all radiation outside of nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons and similar devices, is considered too weak to damage cells or DNA. While the 49ers theory argues theSilicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation is emitting such high levels of EMF radiation that it is affecting players' soft ti sue, there is no indication such a level of EMF radiation can actually weaken ti sue. EMF exposure side effects While ionizing EMF radiation can damage cells are requires precaution, non-ionizing EMF radiation is "not known to damage DNA or cells directly," according to the . While some claim to have EMF hypersensitivity that causes headaches, fatigue or skin i sues, EMF hypersensitivity is not a recognized medical condition. What is an electrical substation? An electrical substation is intended to "convert electricity into different voltages" and transmit it into homes, busine ses and neighborhoods as needed, according to . MORE: NFLs Chief Medical Officer statement The NFL's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Allen Sills, weighed in on the theories, e sentially saying in a long0winded weigh that it is likely false, but not enough data exists to equivocally say the theories are wrong. "Obviously, were aware of those reports.Listen, I would say we look at injury causation acro s the board. We consult with experts throughout sports medicine and other industries to try to understand and gain as comprehensive an understanding of injury causation as we can. I would tell you that Im not familiar with anything in the sports medicine literature that supports those a sociations, but I would also tell you that injury causation is really complex. If you think about biology and medicine, you dont have usually one single factor that drives biological systems. And so when we think about injury causation, whether its lower extremity strains or ACL or concu sion . . . its equipment, its training, its prior injury history, its exposure, its play type. Theres so many things that go into that. And so, I think its very rare in a biological system that youll see one factor that really drives an injury risk. So with that being said, we look at all factors, we look at it very comprehensively. I think its also important . . . to say that we have seen significant erroneous conclusions drawn from people using publicly-available data sources. And what I mean by that is theres research that often gets published where people take injury reports that are distributed in media and use that to try to a se s an injury burden. And those are almost universally wrong because theyre just not complete. And theyre not complete because they dont have all the data because not everything gets put into those disclosure systems. And so thats why we put so much stock in our own data, because we know we have a complete record through the electronic health record, all 32 clubs reporting to that record. We have a world-cla s data science and epidemiology company that extracts all that data, goes and analyzes it. We have the full picture of those injuries. . . . So we try to be transparent, but we try to be comprehensive, and I would just caution again against drawing any conclusions based on publicly-available data sources. And Ill just dive one notch deeper into that. One of the things thats been said is that that club has led the league in non-direct contact lower extremity injuries. Thats simply not true. Thats false. So I think we have obviously a lot of work to do on all these injuries and well consider any and all mechanisms, but thats sort of the maybe broader picture on that particular question." Where is Levis Stadium? Santa Clara, California Despite being named the San Francisco 49ers, the team plays and practices in Santa Clara, about 35 minutes south of the city in its name. Santa Clara sits just to the north of San Jose. Levi's Stadium is situated next to a residential neighborhood on its east side and an amusement park to its south and west. The Santa Clara Convention Center is also acro s the street from the stadium. The 49ers' outdoor practice field is next to the stadium and directly acro s from theSilicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation. MORE: 49ers practice facility next to electric substation While some teams have their practice facilities in a different location than their stadium, the 49ers have their practice field situated directly next to Levi's Stadium. Just to the south of both the stadium and the practice field, which is labeled "multi-use field" on the map below, is theSilicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation. Here's a complete look at the campus: Google Earth 49ers reaction to electrical substation conspiracy theory At the 49ers' pre s conference following their season-ending lo s to the , general manager John Lynch said the team will look into the conspiracy. "Because it deals with allegedly the health and safety of our players, I think you have to look into everything," Lynch said, . "We've been reaching out to anyone and everyone to see, does a study exist other than a guy sticking an apparatus underneath the fence and coming up with a number that I have no idea what that means? That's what we know exists. We've heard that debunked." Lynch acknowledged that injuries happen to every team in the NFL, but San Francisco still puts resources into trying to improve the team's injury prevention. "What we strive to do is never to eliminate injuries, but to mitigate injuries," he said. "And I think we have a lot of good proce ses. We'll challenge them all. And that proce s has begun. It never frankly stopped. But yes, we'll look at everything, and we'll examine everything." When did Levis Stadium open? Inauguralseason: 2014 Levi's Stadium opened in 2014, le s than three years after workers first broke ground. After finalizing a deal with Santa Clara, the 49ers broke ground on Levi's Stadium in April of 2012 and built it in time for an official opening at the start of the 2014 season. Levi's Stadium hosted its first Super Bowl in its second season of operation. 49ers old stadium The 49ers played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco from 1971-2013, sharing the stadium with MLB's San Francisco for the first 29 years of that stretch. Candlestick Park was located next to Candlestick Point, just south of the heart of the city. After the Giants moved in 2000, the 49ers worked to find a newer stadium for themselves but gave up hope on finding a deal for a new venue in San Francisco in 2006. After looking at locations in Santa Clara, plans for what is now Levi's Stadium started to reach the approval phase in 2009. The 49ers have been headquartered in Santa Clara since the late 1980s, so the move consolidated all of the team's operations, from front office to practice to games themselves, onto one campus. 49ers injury report 2025 Here are the 49ers' notable injuries this season and whether they are soft-ti sue injuries: Player Injury Soft-ti sue injury? Nick Bosa Torn ACL Yes Brock Purdy Turf toe Yes George Kittle Torn Achilles, ankle sprain Yes Fred Warner Fractured ankle No Ricky Pearsall PCL sprain Yes Jauan Jennings Ankle sprains, broken ribs Partially Mykel Williams Torn ACL Yes Trent Williams Hamstring Yes The laundry list of 49ers injuries before 2025 isn't any shorter. From Christian McCaffrey's calf and knee injuries that derailed his 2024 campaign, to Brandon Aiyuk's 2024 ACL tear, to Nick Bosa's 2020 ACL tear andto Jimmy Garoppolo's ACL tear in 2018 and season-ending foot injury in 2022, the injury bug always seems to bite San Francisco's stars. Kittle in particular has also dealt with numerous soft ti sue injuries over the years, including an ankle i sue that kept him off the field at the start of this season, though he has been able to stay on the field for most of the past five seasons. One look at the 49ers' 2025 injuries indicates most of the notable ones are soft ti sue i sues. While Jauan Jennings' broken ribs and Fred Warner's fractured ankle don't fit that description, San Francisco lost both Bosa and Mykel Williams to ACL tears, while Purdy's turf toe injury involved the severe stretching of ligaments or tendons in the big toe. MORE: George Kittle injury details Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in the 49ers' wild-card playoff win over the Eagles, going down after his first catch of the game. Replay showed the cla sic mechanism for an Achilles tear, with Kittle's calf appearing to reverberate after the tendon snapped. The injury is set to force Kittle to spend most of the offseason rehabbing, and his path back to the field in time to play Week 1 is a difficult one. Where is the Super Bowl in 2026? The 2026 Super Bowl will be played at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara. It will be the second Super Bowl at the venue and the first in 10 years, after the stadium hosted Super Bowl 50 following the 2015 season. The electrical substation theory doesnt suggest that a single three-hour game at Levis Stadium increases injury risk. Rather, it claims that practicing near the facility daily over several months could gradually weaken players ligaments and tendons. Of course, there is no evidence that the substation has any effect on players injury risk. Kenyon Martin Jr. Jersey
Virtually all of the ' stars have been affected by injuries over the past two years, including George Kittles torn Achilles, season-ending injuries to Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, Brock Purdys extended absence, Brandon Aiyuks torn ACL, and more. Many have chalked it up to bad luck or training staff i sues, but a new theory has emerged from dubious sources: the 49ers injury woes may be linked to an electric substation near the teams stadium and practice facility. Some players have even heard the theory firsthand, though experts say theres no credibility to the idea. Heres what you need to know about the electric substation conspiracy theory and why experts dismi s it. MORE: 49ers electric substation theories The theory linking an electric substation near the 49ers stadium and practice facility began with a tweet from Peter Cowan, who wrote in a Substack article that low-frequency electromagnetic fields can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-ti sue damage. Cowan argues that while the supposed damage may be harmle s to the average person, it could put players at higher risk for soft-ti sue injuries, such as ligament and tendon tears. The damage is subtle, until a routine cut or block ends in catastrophic rupture, he says. Low-frequency electromagnetic fields can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-ti sue damage at levels regulators call "safe." We have a real world case study proving this: An NFL team whose practice facility sits next to a ma sive electrical substation. THREAD Peter Cowan | Sunlight is Life (@living_energy) Cowan isnt the first to raise concerns about the Silicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation, a real facility, and its po sible link to the 49ers injury woes. Former 49ers guard Jon Feliciano once said players joked in the locker room that the substation was causing injuries. 49ers WR Kendrick Bourne proved that the theory made its way back to the locker room after the team's wild-card win over the , telling reporters, "Its that power plant," before quickly adding that he was joking. According to the , some players are taking it seriously, citing agents who claim they have heard concerns from clients about the po sibility of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) leading to a greater risk of injury, potentially hurting the 49ers' chances of recruiting players to the Bay Area in free agency. However, experts are pushing back on the theory. Bristol Medical School profe sor Frank de Vocht told the Washington Post the idea that EMFs are leading to more injuries is "nonsense," while UC Davis radiology profe sor Jerrold Bushberg , "there is no firmly established evidence" that EMFs can weaken soft ti sue. MORE: There are two different types of radiation, Northwestern radiology profe sor Gayle Woloschak : ionizing and non-ionizing. While ionizing is dangerous and is found in nuclear reactors, non-ionizing radiation surrounds people just about all of the time and is what could be emitted from an electrical substation. "In the huge number of studies that have tried to look at the effects of non-ionizing radiation on cells, theres been no reported damage to DNA, proteins or other molecules thats been identified," Wolschak said. The spoke to University of Colorado profe sor Frank Barnes, who leads a research group "looking at the effects of electric and magnetic fields on biological systems." Barnes was not definitive, warning that research about how electromagnetic fields might impact humans has dried up in recent decades, but Yao Ming Jersey said the theory is "unlikely." In the worst-case scenario, Barnes said, EMFs could be "changing the oxidative stre s level" of players, forcing them to overcompensate when working out, but even the odds of that being true are "pretty darn low." The idea that EMFs are actually weakening soft ti sues just cannot be proven at this point, Barnes explained. Even more convincing than any science might be the simple fact the 49ers have practiced next to the substation in Santa Clara since 1988, the Washington Post confirmed, long before Levi's Stadium was built. The team's rash of injuries is largely tied to the last handful of years MORE: What is EMF radiation? EMF radiation is frequency waves emitted by just about every electronic device. Non-ionizing radiation, which is all radiation outside of nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons and similar devices, is considered too weak to damage cells or DNA. While the 49ers theory argues theSilicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation is emitting such high levels of EMF radiation that it is affecting players' soft ti sue, there is no indication such a level of EMF radiation can actually weaken ti sue. EMF exposure side effects While ionizing EMF radiation can damage cells are requires precaution, non-ionizing EMF radiation is "not known to damage DNA or cells directly," according to the . While some claim to have EMF hypersensitivity that causes headaches, fatigue or skin i sues, EMF hypersensitivity is not a recognized medical condition. What is an electrical substation? An electrical substation is intended to "convert electricity into different voltages" and transmit it into homes, busine ses and neighborhoods as needed, according to . MORE: NFLs Chief Medical Officer statement The NFL's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Allen Sills, weighed in on the theories, e sentially saying in a long0winded weigh that it is likely false, but not enough data exists to equivocally say the theories are wrong. "Obviously, were aware of those reports.Listen, I would say we look at injury causation acro s the board. We consult with experts throughout sports medicine and other industries to try to understand and gain as comprehensive an understanding of injury causation as we can. I would tell you that Im not familiar with anything in the sports medicine literature that supports those a sociations, but I would also tell you that injury causation is really complex. If you think about biology and medicine, you dont have usually one single factor that drives biological systems. And so when we think about injury causation, whether its lower extremity strains or ACL or concu sion . . . its equipment, its training, its prior injury history, its exposure, its play type. Theres so many things that go into that. And so, I think its very rare in a biological system that youll see one factor that really drives an injury risk. So with that being said, we look at all factors, we look at it very comprehensively. I think its also important . . . to say that we have seen significant erroneous conclusions drawn from people using publicly-available data sources. And what I mean by that is theres research that often gets published where people take injury reports that are distributed in media and use that to try to a se s an injury burden. And those are almost universally wrong because theyre just not complete. And theyre not complete because they dont have all the data because not everything gets put into those disclosure systems. And so thats why we put so much stock in our own data, because we know we have a complete record through the electronic health record, all 32 clubs reporting to that record. We have a world-cla s data science and epidemiology company that extracts all that data, goes and analyzes it. We have the full picture of those injuries. . . . So we try to be transparent, but we try to be comprehensive, and I would just caution again against drawing any conclusions based on publicly-available data sources. And Ill just dive one notch deeper into that. One of the things thats been said is that that club has led the league in non-direct contact lower extremity injuries. Thats simply not true. Thats false. So I think we have obviously a lot of work to do on all these injuries and well consider any and all mechanisms, but thats sort of the maybe broader picture on that particular question." Where is Levis Stadium? Santa Clara, California Despite being named the San Francisco 49ers, the team plays and practices in Santa Clara, about 35 minutes south of the city in its name. Santa Clara sits just to the north of San Jose. Levi's Stadium is situated next to a residential neighborhood on its east side and an amusement park to its south and west. The Santa Clara Convention Center is also acro s the street from the stadium. The 49ers' outdoor practice field is next to the stadium and directly acro s from theSilicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation. MORE: 49ers practice facility next to electric substation While some teams have their practice facilities in a different location than their stadium, the 49ers have their practice field situated directly next to Levi's Stadium. Just to the south of both the stadium and the practice field, which is labeled "multi-use field" on the map below, is theSilicon Valley Power Mi sion Substation. Here's a complete look at the campus: Google Earth 49ers reaction to electrical substation conspiracy theory At the 49ers' pre s conference following their season-ending lo s to the , general manager John Lynch said the team will look into the conspiracy. "Because it deals with allegedly the health and safety of our players, I think you have to look into everything," Lynch said, . "We've been reaching out to anyone and everyone to see, does a study exist other than a guy sticking an apparatus underneath the fence and coming up with a number that I have no idea what that means? That's what we know exists. We've heard that debunked." Lynch acknowledged that injuries happen to every team in the NFL, but San Francisco still puts resources into trying to improve the team's injury prevention. "What we strive to do is never to eliminate injuries, but to mitigate injuries," he said. "And I think we have a lot of good proce ses. We'll challenge them all. And that proce s has begun. It never frankly stopped. But yes, we'll look at everything, and we'll examine everything." When did Levis Stadium open? Inauguralseason: 2014 Levi's Stadium opened in 2014, le s than three years after workers first broke ground. After finalizing a deal with Santa Clara, the 49ers broke ground on Levi's Stadium in April of 2012 and built it in time for an official opening at the start of the 2014 season. Levi's Stadium hosted its first Super Bowl in its second season of operation. 49ers old stadium The 49ers played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco from 1971-2013, sharing the stadium with MLB's San Francisco for the first 29 years of that stretch. Candlestick Park was located next to Candlestick Point, just south of the heart of the city. After the Giants moved in 2000, the 49ers worked to find a newer stadium for themselves but gave up hope on finding a deal for a new venue in San Francisco in 2006. After looking at locations in Santa Clara, plans for what is now Levi's Stadium started to reach the approval phase in 2009. The 49ers have been headquartered in Santa Clara since the late 1980s, so the move consolidated all of the team's operations, from front office to practice to games themselves, onto one campus. 49ers injury report 2025 Here are the 49ers' notable injuries this season and whether they are soft-ti sue injuries: Player Injury Soft-ti sue injury? Nick Bosa Torn ACL Yes Brock Purdy Turf toe Yes George Kittle Torn Achilles, ankle sprain Yes Fred Warner Fractured ankle No Ricky Pearsall PCL sprain Yes Jauan Jennings Ankle sprains, broken ribs Partially Mykel Williams Torn ACL Yes Trent Williams Hamstring Yes The laundry list of 49ers injuries before 2025 isn't any shorter. From Christian McCaffrey's calf and knee injuries that derailed his 2024 campaign, to Brandon Aiyuk's 2024 ACL tear, to Nick Bosa's 2020 ACL tear andto Jimmy Garoppolo's ACL tear in 2018 and season-ending foot injury in 2022, the injury bug always seems to bite San Francisco's stars. Kittle in particular has also dealt with numerous soft ti sue injuries over the years, including an ankle i sue that kept him off the field at the start of this season, though he has been able to stay on the field for most of the past five seasons. One look at the 49ers' 2025 injuries indicates most of the notable ones are soft ti sue i sues. While Jauan Jennings' broken ribs and Fred Warner's fractured ankle don't fit that description, San Francisco lost both Bosa and Mykel Williams to ACL tears, while Purdy's turf toe injury involved the severe stretching of ligaments or tendons in the big toe. MORE: George Kittle injury details Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in the 49ers' wild-card playoff win over the Eagles, going down after his first catch of the game. Replay showed the cla sic mechanism for an Achilles tear, with Kittle's calf appearing to reverberate after the tendon snapped. The injury is set to force Kittle to spend most of the offseason rehabbing, and his path back to the field in time to play Week 1 is a difficult one. Where is the Super Bowl in 2026? The 2026 Super Bowl will be played at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara. It will be the second Super Bowl at the venue and the first in 10 years, after the stadium hosted Super Bowl 50 following the 2015 season. The electrical substation theory doesnt suggest that a single three-hour game at Levis Stadium increases injury risk. Rather, it claims that practicing near the facility daily over several months could gradually weaken players ligaments and tendons. Of course, there is no evidence that the substation has any effect on players injury risk. Kenyon Martin Jr. Jersey