The San Francisco 49ers have struggled with injuries this season and a conspiracy theory has alleged that the increase in injuries is because of the electrical substation next to their practice facility in Santa Clara, California.
The conspiracy theory linking the substation to injuries sustained by 49ers players became a talking point on social media after biophysics expert Peter Cowan’s viral post on X earlier this month. He wrote in his post, which has more than 22 million views.
“Low-frequency electromagnetic fields can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-tissue damage at levels regulators call “safe.”
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Ahead of the 49ers’ divisional round clash against the Seattle Seahawks, analyst Tristan Scott shared a new detail about the conspiracy theory. Scott claimed that the substation next to Levi’s Stadium increased its transmission capacity by 2000% after 2014. He wrote in his X post:
“In 2014 the year that the 49ers injuries began is the same year the substation went from a small local plant to a full regional transmission hub. Increased 2000% in capacity. This is the detail that matters most in this story in my opinion.”
NFL injury analyst Aaron Schatz dismissed conspiracy theory linking 49ers’ injury crisis
Over the last few seasons, the 49ers have been one of the most injured teams in the NFL. However, injury analyst Aaron Schatz didn’t find anything out of the ordinary in the 49ers’ injury frequency.
“It’s not a huge outlier,” Schatz said. “…They led the league, but not by leaps and bounds.”
One of the latest injuries to a 49ers player occurred during their wild-card game against the Philadelphia Eagles when tight end George Kittle tore his right Achilles tendon.
