A new study suggests postponing ACL surgery in young athletes has risks. In the past doctors preferred to give a child's bones more time to grow before drilling into them.

A study released during the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, found that a delay in treatment of ACL injuries of more than 12 weeks led to about a four-fold increase in irreparable medial meniscus tears, an 11-fold increase in lateral compartment chondral injuries and a three-fold increase in patellotrochlear injuries. A delay in treatment also significantly increased issues related to knee instability.

"The risk of inducing a growth disturbance with early reconstruction of a torn ACL must be balanced against the risk of further knee damage by delaying treatment until closer to skeletal maturity. Our study measured the independent risk factors for and relative risk of meniscal and chondral injuries in pediatric ACL patients," said author, Theodore J. Ganley, MD, Director of the Sports Medicine and Performance Center for The Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

The Double-A Zone recently examined ACL injuries in female student-athletes. According to research, women are two and a half to four times more likely to tear their ACLs than men, depending on the sport.

Check out the NCAA's feature on ACL injuries. The feature teaches proper jumping and landing techniques.