Christine Webb, Your Health and Fitness

When it comes to knee injuries, it is not just football players who suffer the most. Certain injuries are on the rise for young girls taking part in sports.

Lindsey Robinson is only 16, but she already bears the surgical scars to repair a torn ACL — the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee.

Lindsey was hurt playing soccer. She is among a growing number of young female athletes sidelined because of torn ACLs.

Some experts claim girls are eight times more likely than boys to suffer the injury.

Orthopaedic surgeon John Xerogeanes says wider hips and sometimes knocked knees make girls more susceptible to injury.

Through physical therapy, patients like Lindsey are being retrained on how to contract muscles around the knee while jumping and landing.

Doctors say the ACL can be damaged through a tear, or it can be completely torn from the bone.

Not everyone with this type of injury needs surgery, and the decision may depend on the damage and if the athlete wants to return to elite competition. 

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