That is, if it's only suppressing pain, the people suffering will do more things that may cause more cartilege damage. (disclaimer: I don't know much about arthritis so I may be wrong)
I’ve had osteoarthritis in my knees since I was 16. At 27 I was opened up and told I had worn grooves through the cartilage and into the bone (I guess that’s why it hurt to ride a bike).
Doc told me quite literally to sit on a couch. Instead I took up karate, and the enforced stretching there relieved a ton of the pain. It didn’t fix anything, and i’d still get knee pain when riding a bike (I cut way back) or running, but my every day experience was tolerable.
In the past few years I started going to a functional fitness gym, and our coach got me towing a sled backwards- THAT fixed up my knees. Something about it has let my knees repair, and I haven’t had knees that felt this good sinc3 at least 1990.