Recent evidence demonstrates that a lack of an explanation and a “name” for their knee pain is a barrier for development of self-management skills among adolescents with chronic knee pain. Perceived uncertainty surrounding their condition can leave adolescents confused and impede their ability to understand “what’s wrong with me”. To counteract this, our group has tried to develop “credible explanation” to provide adolescents and their parents with comprehensible and trustworthy information about their knee pain. In this session, Prof. Rathleff will discuss the development of credible explanations for the most common types of knee pain. Rathleff’s studies on this topic have used multiple methods and integrated findings from a systematic literature search of qualitative studies, an Argumentative Delphi with international experts and think-aloud sessions with adolescents to make sure the explanations meet adolescents needs. At the symposium Prof. Rathleff will provide novel insights into the effect of these credible explanations on adolescents’ self-awareness and understanding of their pain.