Posted on Wed, Mar 24, 2010
The other day I working on a woman who has chronic complaints in her extremities. As I worked, I had a deeper insight into the origins of her pain, tension and discomfort.
A Case Study: The Servers
Some people are raised to do for others. Their own independent self-expression and the meeting of their own needs, even as very young children, are de-emphasized. They learn rather to obey and serve one or both parents or other close family members.
In that case, it is common for the person to identify their limbs, which with they do their doing, with the people they are raised to serve. When it comes to their own sense of their selves, these kind of folks tend to identify as “me” only their axial system – torso, neck and head.
I recall poignantly a young woman I worked with many years ago. As I was working on her arms, she started crying. I was surprised.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
She told me that as a young girl she had broken her arm. Shortly thereafter, she was, with her family, visiting another family. After dinner, the man of that household recruited the kids to wash the dishes. To her surprise, he asked her, with a recent broken arm, to help wash the dishes.
She looked at her father for help to illuminate this man. But her father just shrugged, unassertive, and didn’t protect his child. She helped wash the dishes, in pain the whole time.
Then, while still crying, she said, “Ever since then my arms have belonged to my father. Today these arms are mine again.”
With this current client, I am emphasizing the limbs and especially the “girdles” of the shoulder and pelvis. The girdles are the outlets for self-expression through the extremities. I have high hopes for this current client that she will soon say, “These limbs are mine again.”
The Role of the Massage Therapist
Helping clients re-own parts of themselves self is an essential part of integrative healthcare. As the poet Derek Walcott said in his poem "Love After Love,"
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Posted on Fri, Feb 12, 2010
The scalenes are actually the uppermost of the intercostals muscles, those muscles lying between your ribs that assist inhalation and exhalation. However, big surprise, there are no ribs in the neck! Actually a number of books say the scalenes attach to the vestigial ribs of the cervical vertebrae. That is, little buds appear on the cervical vertebrae that in fish, for instance, would develop into ribs, but in humans they end up being just little bumps to which the scalene muscles attach.
Who ordinarily thinks about breathing with their neck? Yet scalenes do have a very important respiratory function. They may indeed be, next to the diaphragm, the second most important muscles of respiration. The scalenes move the ribcage from above, while the thoracic diaphragm moves it from below.
The anterior scalene runs from the side of the second cervical vertebrae down to the first rib beneath the clavicle. Because it attaches to the front of that rib, the chronic contraction of the anterior scalene is one of the muscles that pulls our head forward; in chronic head-forward posture it is useful to address this muscle among others. The medial and posterior scalenes are more along the side of the neck and therefore have more to do with tilting the head to one side or the other.
It is common in whiplash that the scalenes are injured as the head is whipped forward then forcefully back, slightly tearing some of these muscle fibers through a sudden excessive stretch.
Energetically, the scalenes can be connected with all the virtues and challenges of the neck. The head forward posture can signify sadness, self-esteem issues, reactions to recent or long-held defeats. General neck tension will also manifest in the scalenes. That tension points to all the various reasons for inhibitions or tensions people may have about expressing themselves.
Try this Massage Technique
Here is a very helpful Deep Massage fulcrum which affects the scalenes as well as the superficial posterior neck muscles.
-
Therapist: seated at the head of the table
- Client: supine
- Center yourself
Working on the left side of the scalenes, place your middle finger, assisted by your other fingers, near the origin of the sternocleidomastoid, just above the sternal end of the clavicle. Take out the looseness.
THROUGHOUT THIS TECHNIQUE IT WILL BE BETTER TO USE LESS, RATHER THAN MORE PRESSURE. HONOR THE DELICACY OF THE MUSCLES AND VESSELS HERE!
This fulcrum utilizes the active movement of the client. Ask the client to lift the chin as if looking up. This will take up the slack, stretching the anterior scalenes particularly. Now let us add additional vectors, again in a movement partnership. Ask the client to slowly turn the head to their right, as if to look over the right shoulder. As they move draw your fingers horizontally through the tissues on the left side of the neck. For this whole pass you are at the level of C6 and 7.
You may continue with your tractioning of the fascia all the way back as far as the spinous processes at the center of the neck. In this case, you will have gone considerably past the scalenes, but you will more completely address the soft tissues of the neck pulling them back and with them the head comes back more of top of the body instead of being projected out in front of it.
Now ask your client to bring their head back to center. Begin a second fulcrum, now at the level of the middle of the neck, around C3-5. Repeat each of the steps above. Finally, asking your client to return to center again, begin a third fulcrum at the level of C1-2.
You should repeat these steps on the other side - with the client turning their head to the left, drawing your fingers through the right side of the neck in three passes with movement as described above.
Posted on Tue, Feb 09, 2010
There are those people who are drawn to play music, and they can not go a day or two without wanting to pick up the guitar. There are those who love writing. Finding words for their experiences gives their lives an essential, deeper meaning.
Similarly there are those who are drawn to touch. Touch is more universal than music or writing because, in some manner or other, almost everyone wants to touch and be touched. It is an essential way to know we are not alone.
Yet there are those who are drawn to touch in quite the same way as the musician or writer are drawn to their arts. We feel the need to touch in a way that has little to do with resolving our loneliness. It is not self-centered.
We want this touch to lift up the spirits of those around us. Just as the musician dreams of a people being animated to dance through their music, we dream of people’s pain and suffering being relieved.
This incredible art and science, in the most immediate way - body to body, mind to mind, and heart to heart - makes this world a better place.
Interested in learning more about a career in massage therapy? Lauterstein-Conway Massage School is enrolling people who want to make an impact with touch!
Posted on Thu, Dec 31, 2009
I live in Austin, one of the allergy capitals of the world.
And every few years, particularly when our cedar trees bloom, I bloom too - into sinus infflammation.
What is sinusitis? Sinusitis is usually a response to allergens or viruses. Our sinuses are hollow spaces in the bones of the head - the maxillae, ethmoid, sphenoid, and frontal bones.
When you have a sinus issue, first the nasal passages swell, then become somewhat blocked. When the mucus can't flow, it becomes more susceptible to infection.
For these problems, sinus rinses can be helpful both as a preventative and as part of your self-care during a flare-up. I enjoy the plastic bottle and salt packages available from NeilMed Pharmaceuticals.
Here are some key pressure points for sinus pain - although they will not necessarily cure the underlying condition, they offer tremendous relief from the associated pain.
- Place your fingers to either side of the nostrils - "smelling perfume"
- to the middle of forehead, just above and between your eyebrows
- the undersides of each brow near the nose "drilling bamboo"
- to either side just inside of the bones alongside your eyes
- to the place where your index finger and your thumb come together, usually in the "V" part of your palm.
Slide your finger into the depressions you find at these places and apply pressure.
With pain, the tissues surrounding the pain tense up. Therefore, massage may be very helpful applied to the neck, face and cranium. Use light to medium pressure to relieve tensions in the neck, face, jaw and scalp. Self-massage can be very effective if you create a relaxed atmosphere. And, of course, if you can visit a massage therapist who is acquainted with sinus treatment, you will receive even more expert care.
Although many sinus problems will resolve themselves naturally within a week, for any pain that is severe or persists for more than a week, consider seeing a health professional.
Posted on Fri, Oct 23, 2009
On 10/22/09 I wrote the following letter to school owners massage and organizations. It concerns the possibility (announced as a done deal) that the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork may develop and administer an Advanced Certification exam.
Dear Fellow Bodyworkers, Massage Educators and Affiliated
Industry Members,
After reading this email, if you are in agreement, please
email this letter to everyone you know who cares about the massage field, the
NCBTMB and other key people, organizations and massage magazines.
The more I think about the NCBTMB’s proposed Advanced
Certification Exam, the more I believe it is very much ill-conceived. With the
MBLEx (Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards’ exam) now having cut into
NCBTMB's market, the proposed advanced certification exam seems to be more
necessitated as an income stream for NCBTMB, than as a mandated credential.
One organization's bottom line should not rule the decisions made
affecting our whole field – especially if those decisions will have a negative
effect on the field as a whole.
1. From the response
I’ve gotten from everyone except NCBTMB, I believe I’m in the majority in
believing that the proposed Advanced Certification exam and credential proposed
by NCBTMB is not a good idea at this time. The majority of therapists are not
nationally certified and the majority of advanced therapists certainly are not
nationally certified. And I believe the NCBTMB surveys in 1997 and onward
did not include the majority of practitioners. Many teachers and school owners have serious reservations about the flawed psychometrics on which NCBTMB is claiming to base their decisions.
2. I never received the initial survey in 1997 or any
others - was it completed only by Nationally Certified therapists? If the
primary school owners in the U.S. were not consulted, who else was left out of
the surveying process?
3. NCBTMB should not be the arbiter of who is advanced
and who is not. Their track record of problematic service and
self-interest is a source of discredit and suspicion with most of the
therapists I talk with. That they should be trusted to handle this well
is presumptuous.
4. Requiring to be certified as advanced that one be
already Nationally Certified, arbitrarily, dramatically and unnaturally limits
who can qualify for advanced certification to people who are currently
Nationally Certified.
5. If we end up with a group of advanced practitioners
who are not eligible - due to the arbitrary requirement of National Certification
- vs. a group who are eligible - NCB would be putting a dysfunctional division
in our field. A split between advanced practitioners not recognized by
NCB and those who are will be divisive and deleterious to our field.>
6. NCBTMB has not demonstrated thorough research nor
industry backing for how to define the advanced knowledge an advanced
practitioner should have. The emphasis of the proposed exam apparently would be
orthopedic massage. While I appreciate
orthopedic massage specialists, the majority of advanced practitioners practice
holistically, that is they have excellent skills to resolve physical problems,
while also utilizing advanced skills to prevent disease and to augment the
health of their clients. Advanced
Massage therapists largely are complementary health-care practitioners, not
just allopathic disease-treatment specialists.
Any advanced exam should reflect that fact.
7. There is basically no way in such exams to
demonstrate practical skills. Qualifying
someone as advanced without any way to demonstrate advanced skill level is
problematic to say the least.
8. Who is considered advanced may be more
appropriately decided by the individual organizations that oversee and/or train
the specialties in our field - such as the Rolf Institute, AOBTA, Feldenkrais
Guild, and other education institutions or organizations that can responsibly
verify advanced skill levels. Only they can look closely enough at the
individual practitioners to genuinely assess whether their knowledge and skills
are advanced.
In sum, NCBTMB is proposing to make a bad decision which
would affect the whole field, apparently on the basis of their own needs as an
organization and the opinions of a minority whom they have preferred to
survey. Additionally, to do this at the
expense of the field which supports them is extremely unfortunate. We must all do what we can to prevent this.
I again encourage you to respond by emailing everyone you
know who practices or is involved in the massage field, the NCBTMB and other
key people, organizations and massage magazines.
I love our field, as I know you all do. And I am
protective of its highest aspirations which I do believe we all want to see respected
in the decisions made affecting our field.
Co-Director
Lauterstein-Conway Massage School
4701-B Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78756
Posted on Fri, Sep 18, 2009
Did you know it is basically a law of structure that under compression fascia will "migrate" laterally? Think of pressing down on a beach ball. The more you press, the further out each of its color segments would get.
This is exactly what happens to the pregnant woman under the compression of the extra weight carried during pregnancy. The muscles and fascia under compression particularly in the abdomen and waist migrate laterally.
This means, particularly with back work with this special population, you may need to change the directions of some of your strokes. Particularly many therapists have the habit, which ordinarily feels good, of taking their thumbs and, starting medially near the spinous processes pushing out laterally stretching and spreading the back muscles out.
Ordinarily this can feel quite good. But in the case of pregnancy where these muscles often are already stretched beyond their normal limits and, migrating laterally, the last thing you want to do is make their lives harder.
Instead concentrate on gently pushing the muscles on the lower and mid-back in toward the center. We have a technique in Deep Massage that we teach here that is really effective with these lower back muscles.
Nine Points: Erector Spinae, Multifidus, Quadratus Lumborum
With the client side-lying with pillows supporting the "upper arm" and comfortably between the legs, and the massage therapist along client's right side, facing head (reverse direction for other side).
Gently encourage client to breathe and bring their awareness to the lumbar region. Then place your hand alongside the lateral margin of the lumbar muscles on the side of the body. It is useful to start gently focusing first into the lateral margin of iliocostalis (the lateral-most of the erector spinae muscles).
With the finger pads of your middle finger supported by the first and ring fingers (or with the middle phalange of the first finger supported by the thumb), gently melt down into the lateral margins of the lumbar muscles at three levels in the side: just under the 12th rib, halfway between the 12th rib and the iliac crest, and just above the iliac crest. Your pressure is medial-ward, toward the spine.
First work into the erector spinae, then the multifidus, and finally, the quadratus lumborum. Where you find tension, work gently into it and spend more time melting into these areas with gently curved fingers (or supported middle phalange of first finger).
Regularly check in with client regarding appropriate pressure and movement. Always err on the side of conservativeness, using too little pressure rather than too much. Less is more!
Repeat on the opposite side.
Kate Jordan's 4-day pregnancy massage certification course Bodywork for the Childbearing Year begins in October.
Posted on Thu, May 21, 2009
By David Lauterstein, as published the World Massage Festival, which David has been nominated as a 2011 Hall of Fame inductee.
I am David Lauterstein, Co-founder of The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School in Austin. I have been a massage therapy teacher since 1982 and therapist since 1977.
Here's my story!
I was raised in Chicago by a mother who was a pianist, a father who was a dentist, and my Godmother who was a tall, wonderful African-American woman, Millie Barry.
My earliest interest was music and the first 25 years of my life that was my passion. I played guitar, banjo, dobro, and mandolin throughout high school.
I loved playing with bluesmen particularly and was good friends with MIchael Bloomfield. I also had the honor to play with Otis Spann and others and to meet Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Son House, Fred McDowell, Sleepy John Ester, Big Joe Williams and many other wonderful folk musicians.
In 1967 I studied Indian classical music at the Society for the Study of Eastern Arts in Berkeley, California. Then I did an about face and decided to get my degree in Western classical music, studying mostly at the University of Illinois where I got my degree in music composition and spent a year doing post-graduate studies with Wolf Rosenberg in Munich.
Beginning in 1972, my interests in yoga, martial arts, and psychotherapy started becoming more important to me and I began transitioning to what I later discovered as my life work - massage therapy.
Coming back from Munich, I got into Gestalt psychotherapy, body-centered explorations, and Rolfing. My Rolfing experiences, at the hands primarily of Allen Davidson, were especially profound. I started a study group with Allen and a number of other Rolfers, psychotherapists, and martial artists. During the time of that study group I found myself experimenting more and more with bodywork and in 1977 I graduated from the Chicago School of Massage Therapy and began a professional practice in massage therapy in Chicago.
I practiced for a number of years and learned by trading and receiving from anyone in town or passing through. Thus, I was exposed early on to Aston Patterning, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Polarity, Hoshino Therapy, Zero Balancing, body-centered psychotherapy, shiatsu, and other fascinating approaches.
In 1982 I met Rolfer, Daniel Blake, who wanted to teach a training in "Structural Bodywork". This was his offshoot of Rolfing in which he tried to teach how Ida Rolf actually practiced (she rarely did the 10-session recipe unless she was teaching). In 1982-83 I did 500 hours of advanced training with Daniel and was certified by the Structural Bodywork Institute. At that time, I was also fascinated with Craniosacral Therapy and studied with Daniel Bensky and the Australian osteopath, Charles Lincoln and his wife Deborah. I also studied character structure with body-centered psychotherapist, Robert Phillips and began a long association with psychotherapist, Paul D. Brown.
In 1982 I began teaching at the Chicago School of Massage Therapy. I was, along with Jim Hackett, the primary instructor in anatomy and deep tissue massage.
I discovered how much I loved teaching. Shortly thereafter I began teaching throughout the U.S. Some of my first workshops were in Texas and I fell in love with Austin. At this time I wrote the book, Putting the Soul Back in the Body: A Manual of Imaginative Anatomy for Massage Therapists.
I moved to Austin in 1984 with the intention of just teaching advanced trainings. However, I found that good basic training was lacking. So I joined forces with the first massage school in Texas, the Texas School of Massage Studies, becoming their Dean of Faculty. As such, the first thing I did was hire an advanced student of mine, John Conway. At this time, I was also the editor of the national magazine, the Massage Therapy Journal.
After three and half years at the Texas School of Massage Studies, John and i decided we wanted to work at a school that was "run in a manner as healing as the subjects we teach". We both deeply wanted to be teaching at a school in which the compassionate and exacting principles governing high level massage were practiced also in the way that staff and students were treated. So we started The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School in January, 1989.
Although Texas at that time required only 250 hours, we began with a radical three semester curriculum encompassing 700 hours from our very start! We covered Swedish, Deep, Sports Massage, and Shiatsu. We also included advanced studies in psychologically-oriented bodywork, Craniosacral therapy, Zero Balancing, and advanced Structural Bodywork.
Paralleling these early years, I began in 1986 studying Zero Balancing with its founder, Dr. Fritz Smith, MD. I found in classes and discussions with Fritz that the Deep Massage teaching I had been doing dovetailed remarkably with Zero Balancing's philosophy and practice. In the 23 years since I have been teaching primarily Deep Massage: The Lauterstein Method and Zero Balancing. What distinguishes these approaches is a very conscious engagement of both the body's structure as well its energy. So many bodyworkers either practice medically or in a new age manner - yet I've always been interested in how to practice in a unified manner - with scientific rigor as well as heightened imagination and spirit.
I have taught throughout the U.S. since 1982 and in England also annually since 1996. I have written the Seven Dimensions of Touch, What is Zero Balancing?, the Poetics of Touch and other essays published internationally.
In 2008 I recorded my first CD for massage and bodywork, Roots and Branches. This is the first CD recorded live in the studio simultaneous to actual massages
being performed in the studio - so we would have a music that actually arose from massage itself. I also have recorded two DVD's of Deep Massage: The Lauterstein Method which accompany the workshops I teach.
The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School has just celebrated its 20th Anniversary! I am proud of our training of 1000's of wonderful therapists. We continue to strive each day for the highest standards in the field! I have been a therapist for 32 years yet I am still struck with wonder by the endless depth of what we learn and what we can accomplish with bodywork and high level education.
Posted on Sun, Dec 14, 2008
I wonder sometimes in articles on alternative medicine why massage isn't mentioned more prominently. It is, BY FAR, the most utilized of all alternative therapies.
I suppose that may mean it's not "news". But massage therapy and bodywork, especially when practiced at a high level, is so powerful. I suspect research will eventually show regular sessions having a dramatic impact on so many diseases...certainly as dependably as acupuncture.
Perhaps, if we required the length of training of acupuncturists...In any case, they say it takes 16 years to master any complex skill, like playing the piano. So just ask your therapist what their training is and if they have been practicing for 16 or more years!
Muscle tension and muscular pain is the most common of all health problems. Massage is the central therapy dealing directly with muscle tension. Therefore, it is the most relevant therapy for what bothers people the most.
Check this out:
http://www.amtamassage.org/media/consumersurvey_factsheet-2008.html
36% of Americans said they got a massage within the last 5 years. Up from 22% last year!
Well, you know the positive power of massage and human touch is at the center of all I believe. I'll be elaborating on this in a blog this coming year. Massage helps individuals transform and as the Dalai Lama says, "I think peace must come from individual transformation."
Let's be more in touch this new year!
Love,
David
Posted on Mon, Nov 17, 2008
by David Lauterstein
Origin – Medius: Anterior gluteal line of ilium, Minimus: Inferior gluteal line of ilium Insertion – Greater trochanter of femur Action – Flexion of extension; medial or lateral rotation and abduction of thigh Antagonist – Adductor magnus
According to some theories of posture, in a healthy body one should be able to draw a straight line up from the ankle, through the knee, greater trochanter, mid-chest, shoulder and ear. Bisect d by this line would be the deltoids and the gluteus medius and minimus. This clarifies the varied functions of the se muscles. Contract the anterior fibers, the segment, be it arm or leg, it is pulled forward and rotated in, i.e. flexed and rotated medially. Contract the middle fibers, the segment is lifted up to the side; rotated out, i.e. extended and rotated laterally.
Therefore, by fine tuning simultaneous contractions of these muscle fibers, we enable ourselves to constantly and subtly adjust the motions of our girdles and limbs.
According to many movement theorists, the pelvic /lower abdominal area should be the overall initiator of movement, it being our physical and spiritual center.
An image of the pelvis that conveys this crucial role is that of a boat. The image so completely conveys the essence that I sometimes think our unconscious experience of the pelvis led to the invention of the boat! The pelvis is the bony basin for abdominal contents. To work well, it must be structured in an overall bowl shape (or is it ship-shape?), and it must be balanced, not listing to one side or the other. (Otherwise, its abdominal cargo would be lost!) Above it, rises nobly the main mast, the spine, held in place by the rigging, the erector spinae, and the main sails – the trapezius, latissimus dorsi, pectoralis major, etc. All these sails are billowing beautifully in the winds of breath. And way up at the top, staring into the distance with his eyeglasses, Mr. Head, in the crow’s nest, who, just because he’s the first to see what’s coming and he’s been up there alone so long, suffers from the delusion that he’s the Capitan of the ship. Down under the water's surface extend our anchors, the legs, which rest on the ocean “floor.” This analogy breaks it down a bit, yet remains relevant as we feel out how the legs, through our main sources of propulsion and grounding, are still dependent on wind power/breath. And on the emotional seas not being too stormy (in which case they might lose contact with the ocean floor).
Given all this, the crucial role of the gluteus medius and minimus begins to emerge. These are rudders of the ship, I mean, hip. Additionally, when you lift a leg, in walking, these gluteals strongly contract on the side of the opposite leg so that the pelvis stays level. Consequently, paralysis of these muscles is the most serious muscular disorder of the hip.
Since they run along the side, i.e. depth of the body, it makes sense to work them with the client on his/her side, a pillow between the legs and under the head. These muscles are often very tight and unyielding to deep pressure. Often, I find with a personality or area that is used to staying tight, here is so little acquaintance with relaxation that they understand only more or less tightness. Therefore, body mobilization here often is essential. While working in with forearm or fingers, have client gently, slowly raise the leg just a little, and then let it down. Work all around, softening the tissues, bit by bit, more with patience than with force, using the client’s cooperative motion as appropriate.
To learn more, consider taking Deep Massage: The Lauterstein Method - Side-lying Techniques with David Lauterstein.
Posted on Wed, Oct 22, 2008
by David Lauterstein, LMT
Origin: Ischial tuberosity; medial 1/3 linea aspera (short head of biceps femoris) Insertion: Semimembranosus: medial condyle of tibia, Semitendonosus: proximal, antero-medial aspect of tibia, Biceps Femoris: head of fibula Action: Extention of hip, flexion of knee, medial or lateral rotation of lower leg, (Excessive: Hyperextended knee) Antagonist: Quadriceps
These interesting muscles (which were no doubt named by a very primitive culture which used to make strings out of ham!) illustrate nicely the distinction between postural and structural kinesiology. AS far as I know, "Structural" kinesiology is what you find in most books. It basically describes what happens to the movable body part on which a given muscle inserts when that muscle contracts. For example, when you contract the pectoralis major, you wack somebody upside the head if they're unfortunate enough to be standing in front of you. Contract the anterior deltoid and biceps and you hit yourself in the head unless you duck. Pretty straightforward, eh?
But what if the body part on which a muscle inserts is stabilized? For instance if you lift one leg and contract the hamstrings, the knees will bend and the hip, extend. But if you keep both feet on the floor and contract the hamstrings, the knees will lock back and the pelvis shift forward. Pretty neat, eh? This is because if the hip is to extend, i.e. thighs move behind the pelvis, while the feet remain on the floor, the knees have to lock back. Stand up and try it...So, from the postural kinesiological standpoint, the hamstrings can have the exact opposite action, namely knee hyperextention, from their structural kinesiological action, knee flexion. This grasp of the impact of muscle contraction on posture is an essential part of structural approaches to the body.
So what if a person locks their knees? It is a tension-producing, rigid and potentially dangerous way of standing. It's again as if we would like to ignore our lower half, just lock it into place and go about business. But anytime we disown a part of ourselves, we diminish ourselves by that much. Would you walk in goose-steps or dance or fight that way? It's interesting, isn't it, how even rigidity or Nazi culture didn't escape the legacy of four-leggedness. Remember the straight-armed salute? It's exactly the same as their goose-step, only hyperextending the hinge joint of the elbow in addition to the knee. It's quite an image, isn't it - hateful soldiers, hell-bent, limbs rigid in furious denial of their own animality.
Locking the knees will compress the knee and the hip. By immobilizing the legs, it will reduce circulation and give rise to congestion and undernourishment of tissues. Locked knees also leave us more susceptible to injury as we cannot then well absorb any sudden impact or motion.
So from the standpoint of both spirit and structure, I would say it makes sense not to lock the knees! Therefore, hamstring lengthening is the order of the day. The hamstrings are broad and strong. Often they can absorb a fair amount of pressure. Feel free to use forearm, fist or flat of knuckle wherever you need to. Usually, the musculo-tendinous junction of the biceps femoris is particularly tight because this muscle is the only one which pulls up on the fibula while eight muscles pull down. Additionally, it is the only lateral rotator of the lower leg.
Often times, lengthening the hamstrings will not remedy knee hyperextension. It is a habit and at least initially, most people have consciously let go of this habit again and again.
Help by explaining that unlocking the knees doesn't mean squatting: it means just unlocking a little, leaving a bit of play in the knee joint that one can come to enjoy.
After all, as Elvis Presley, our rock and roll mentor, implied - you can't really love without getting a little weak in the knees.