Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
The San Francisco 49ers are far and away the most injured team in the NFL over the last decade. This isn’t based on the eye test, either, but statistical fact.
In a study put together by Peter Cowan, the San Francisco 49ers were found to statistically be the most injured team in the NFL since 2014, and by some distance, too. Cowan is the founder of “Sunlight is Life (software tools for light and sun exposure optimization) and Living Energy Wellness, where I practice as a board-certified quantum biology practitioner,” according to his website.
According to Cowan’s data, since moving to Levi’s Stadium in 2014, the 49ers are: top-5 in Adjusted Games Lost for 10 of 11 seasons; have had 7-8 full Achilles/patellar ruptures compared to the league average of two-to-three per year TOTAL; 40+ major hamstring/calf tears; and a pattern of high-ankle syndesmosis injuries every single year.”
Cowan says that “no other franchise comes close” to the 49ers’ recent injury history, and the reason for that may have to do with the fact that their practice field is located next to a electrical substation; an electrical substation that emits “low-frequency electromagnetic fields,” which can “degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-tissue damage at levels regulators call ‘safe.'”
An electromagnetic field near the San Francisco 49er’s practice field may be the reason why they are the most injured team in the NFL
The San Francisco 49ers are statistically the most injured team in the NFL over the past decade.
Since moving to Levi’s Stadium in 2014:
Top-5 in Adjusted Games Lost for 10 of 11 seasons
7-8 full Achilles/patellar ruptures (league avg: 2-3/year TOTAL)
40+ major hamstring/calf…
— Peter Cowan | Sunlight is Life (@living_energy) January 6, 2026
“On December 1, 2025, I walked to the northeast corner of the 49ers’ Marie P. DeBartolo Sports Center practice fields in Santa Clara—a little over 100 yards from Silicon Valley Power’s Mission Substation (the city-owned 60 kV facility that replaced parts of the old Tasman Substation during stadium construction)—and turned on my gaussmeter,” Cowen explained on his SubStack.
“At 11:00 a.m. on a quiet Monday (far from peak load), it read 8.5+ milligauss (to put that in perspective, the average background level in a typical American home or office is usually between 0.5 and 3.0 mG). One hundred yards closer, in the facilities where players lift, watch film, and recover, the fields could be several times higher: potentially 13–21 mG on a normal day, spiking even higher during peak grid demand—like evening practices or hot/cold weather when more electricity flows through the substation.”
Chronic ELF exposure is degrading the collagen integrity in the players tendons, ligaments, and muscle-tendon junctions.
The damage is subtle, until a routine cut or block ends in catastrophic rupture.
The injury pattern matches the biological fingerprint of prolonged ELF…
— Peter Cowan | Sunlight is Life (@living_energy) January 6, 2026
According to Cowan, “this is chronic, inescapable exposure to extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields in a biologically active range—and it’s the only major environmental variable unique to the 49ers among NFL teams.”
I brought this up and was called a conspiracy theorist and the Alex Jones of NFL content creators.
But experts in this field continue to say it could be a reason why the 49ers deal with so many injury problems.
Fascinating thread and worth looking into. https://t.co/ncT0q7EgP0
— Chase Senior (@Chase_Senior) January 7, 2026
If players start to think this is real, eventually the 49ers will have no choice but to move. https://t.co/jx35ZNDqph
— Grant Cohn (@grantcohn) January 7, 2026
Given how routinely successful the organization has been since hiring Kyle Shanahan as its head coach in 2017 — and its time with Jim Harbaugh from 2011 to 2014 — one could only imagine what the 49ers’ trophy cabinet might look like if they weren’t experiencing injuries at such a higher clip than the rest of the league.
The 49ers will begin their playoff push with a Wild Card Round matchup on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, January 11 at 4:30 p.m. EST.