A method for treating a non-weight bearing arthritic joint involves resecting at least one of the opposed joint surfaces to expose a cancellous bone surface. A bioresorbable implant is mounted to one of the joint surfaces so that the resected joint surface rubs against the surface of the implant. This causes the fibroblast to change into fibrocartilage at the resected bone surface as the implant is resorbed thereby effectively replacing the implant with fibrocartilage during such resorption.