A 34-year-old female skier was taken by ambulance to the hospital after she struck a tree on the ski slope. Imaging gives evidence of a shoulder separation. Which of the following typically occurs in this kind of injury?

In shoulder separation, either or both the acromioclavicular and coracoclavicular ligaments can be partially or completely torn through. The acromioclavicular joint can be interrupted and the distal end of the clavicle may deviate upward in a complete separation, while the upper limb droops away inferiorly, causing a "step off" that can be palpated and sometimes observed. Displacement of the head of the humerus is shoulder dislocation, not separation. The coracoacromial ligament is not torn in separation (but it is sometimes used in the repair of the torn coracoclavicular ligament). Disruption of the glenoid labrum often accompanies shoulder dislocation.