Question 134: Self-defense

I was once in a situation where a guy walked up behind me, wrapped one of his arms around my throat, and used the other to apply a simultaneous hammerlock on my arm opposite of his choking arm. In other words, I was receiving a rear-naked-choke/hammerlock combo. To be fair, I was not being choked out; the guy was just restraining me (also, a one arm choke has slightly less power), but I was still petrified with fear.

Ever since then, I have been experiencing fear and shame over my inability to do anything about the situation. I was hoping you could share with me some different techniques possible to break free of this situation.

Please note:

I am aware that once the lock is in place, it’s near-impossible to break free “fair-and-honorably”. I also know that the best method is obviously not to let the attack happen, but that didn’t apply to this situation.

Other sources have recommended tactics to me such as biting, shin stomping, back-head-butting, and using a sharp object to stab the person’s arm. While I do not enjoy the idea of fighting dirty (especially since I hate fighting at all), I have no objection to such measures when necessary. (Frankly, the biting and sharp object seem like the most likely to work.)

Even if you just tell me to do the same thing that I mentioned above, that will be fine because now I know a professional is recommending it. If this is the case, are there any other “somewhat questionable” methods I could use? The more options, the better.