Twice I was diagnosed with arthritis on a telephone appointment with the GP. Both times I told the GP he was wrong. The first time was when I had covid toes in the Summer. It was coming and going and sometimes terribly itchy.
The second time was after I pulled our 30kg dog out of the canal by his collar with two fingers. First I thought my fingers were broken  But when I came home, it wasn't that bad anymore.
When I tried to book an appointment with the GP, both times I was asked to sent a picture. I described how I hurt my fingers and the doctor just told me that he could se that I had arthritis and he wanted to prescribe me medication. Both times I refused. I told him that it was not arthritis and that nobody in my family has arthritis. He was still sure that it was arthritis. But if I wanted, I could go to A&E and then let the GP know what they told me there.
After six weeks, my fingers were still hurting and I went to A&E were a very kind doctor Steve told me that it wasn't arthritis, but that the problem was with my tendons and he gave me some excercises to do.
I'm not at all surprised at all with what this article is telling me. The GP just did want to solve my problem prescribing arthritis medication. And because he is a doctor, a lot of people will just accept what he says.
I really think that being diagnosed with arthritis and really having arthritis are two different things.