The problem is actually that if pressure/heat on the tensed muscles in your leg doesn't help, then it's in your back like it was with me... It's kind of hard to do that yourself...
I know that if you go down someone's vertebrae, you can often (not always) feel where the muscles are most tensed and applying pressure in circular motions on the knots can help lessen that and smooth the tension away, but that usually hurts right up until the moment your muscles loosen...
What did help me though was relaxation exercises that focus on relaxing your muscles one by one. That and lying on a hard surface (for me the floor) sometimes helps straighten your back, but then I add in a heatcushion on the part of my back that's causing the trouble.... That alongside a good night's sleep usually fixes me up quite well, but when it really does get too bad, then I head over to get that massage...
Sorry I can't be more of a help... This is kind of a difficult thing to fix on your own since most people can't reach their own vertebrae... I did give you all the smaller things I've found help though... I hope they work for you?