The surgeon told me that the separations are rated in degrees 1-4 based on direction and amount of separation. He said a fifth degree references a straight separation, but larger than the normal amount. Not that a fifth is worse than a third or fourth, just different. (The first post in this thread described a similar separation.)
MX Dude, Glad to hear that the shoulder is back to normal. My doctor said in 3 months I should be back. The first doctor told me maybe surgery would be better/maybe not. The second surgeon, a sports medicine doctor, said that if I didn't have surgery, he didn't think the condition would improve. At 39, I don't have a lot of time to waste to get back to riding, so I had the surgery the following day. BTW, immediately after I wrecked and I got home from the ER, I looked at this particular tread (searched for shoulder) and found lots of good information. (I really couldn't understand the ER doctor, it should be a prerequisite that they speak English. I caught the word "separation" and he pointed at the X-rays.) In particular, your post and a post about going to a sports medicine place were very helpful.
Any ideas/opinions about the shoulder pads?