Until it does, and judging by the row of analgesics at the supermarket dulling the pain is often enough.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic - I'll assume you are. I don't imagine you actually believe perpetual use of pain killers is ever better than solving the root cause (and how tenuous a solution it is at that, ready to flare up worse than ever, with the patient now addicted to pain killers to boot).