49ers injury conspiracy theory with an electrical substation explained

[ASFN Admin]

We're all fully aware that the San Francisco 49ers have been besieged by injuries this season up and down the roster. That just happens to NFL teams some years -- the injury luck is bad. There could be other factors, like turf, heavier practices, technique or -- I dunno -- the violent game they game for a few months a year.

But there's a new theory floating around that has gone viral and has now been looked into: Someone on social media focused on an electrical substation near the Niners' practice facility and stadium, making claims about what affect it could have.

What's the deal here? Is this a real concern? Let's dive in and explain it:

What's the theory about the 49ers injuries and the electrical substation?​

Low-frequency electromagnetic fields can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-tissue 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 massive electrical substation.

THREAD … pic.twitter.com/fOVvrVTu5I

— Peter Cowan | Sunlight is Life (@living_energy) January 6, 2026

TL;DR: The claim is the 49ers have had a ton of injuries since moving to the Santa Clara stadium and practice facility, where an electrical substation is nearby. There was some joking -- or maybe half joking? I can't tell -- from players over the years that the substation was to blame because Electromotive Force (EMF) is bad for you.

Why do the 49ers suffer so many injuries? It's a question nobody has an answer to.

One theory that is interesting (if you want to get nerdy and holistic) is something Jon Feliciano brought up: How players have joked around about their being an electrical substation that's right… pic.twitter.com/EKOdKHGG3C

— Chase Senior (@Chase_Senior) October 28, 2025

Are NFL players really worried about this?​

Yes, per the Washington Post's Sam Fortier:

NFL players are lighting up their agents about the viral electromagnetic field theory for all the San Francisco 49ers injury woes.@AlbertSamaha and I decided to investigate:

Full story pic.twitter.com/4BRJpcCBm3

— Sam Fortier (@Sam4TR) January 15, 2026

Here's Niners wideout Kendrick Bourne joking about it last week:

"It's that power plant."

49ers WR Kendrick Bourne jokes about viral conspiracy theory explaining team's injuries. @kron4newspic.twitter.com/eNLcEjzfm9

— Aaron Tolentino (@ATolent2) January 14, 2026

Is EMF really to blame for the 49ers injury woes?​

The Post has an answer from Frank de Vocht, "a professor of epidemiology and public health at Bristol Medical School in England and a leading expert on how EMF affects humans." He called it "nonsense."

Other experts have noted that EMF hasn't been linked to soft tissue injuries, and there's also the fact that the team has practiced next to the substation since... 1988!

I can’t believe this EMF conspiracy is still getting traction.

So they’ve been practicing next to the plant since 1988, but it’s only become an issue in the last 7 or 8 years, which actually coincides perfectly with when Shanahan took over. And he has a notoriously rigorous…

— Brian Sutterer MD (@BrianSuttererMD) January 16, 2026

Here's more via Front Office Sports:

Jerrold Bushberg, a radiology professor at UC Davis who chairs the board of directors for the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, tells FOS that “there is no firmly established evidence” that these types of low-level exposures have any biological impacts on humans.

“These so-called ‘mechanisms’ have not been established, and many of the experiments are contradictory, and many of the experiments have exposures that either don’t relate specifically to 50-, 60-hertz magnetic fields, or are at much, much higher levels than what would be experienced at a practice level,” Bushberg, a 49ers fan himself, says of the science behind the injury theory.

There is some talk from the experts cited in that Post article about getting more studies on the effect of EMF on soft tissue, but there's a LONG way to go before there's any correlation between the two. So maybe we pump the brakes here on all this and await more scientific evidence.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: 49ers injury theory electrical substation near facility, explained

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