"Naruto Run in Children: A Cultural Meme Presenting as a Disorder of Running Gait".

BACKGROUND AND CASES: Eight children with normal neurological examinations in a child neurology clinic were observed to have an abnormal posturing of the arms, head and torso after being instructed to run down a clinic hallway. The posturing was involuntary, unconscious, stereotyped, subject to voluntary control, and had the appearance identical to that of the anime character Naruto. None of the children knew each other, and each watched Naruto on television.

CONCLUSIONS

Their abnormal posturing was not evidence of an organic disorder but instead of a cultural meme with which, in the era of widely disseminated social media, the clinician should be aware in order to avoid unnecessary evaluation and misdiagnosis.