Compositions and methods of treating a subject with an acute traumatic injury are disclosed. The methods include administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition comprising a potassium channel blocker. The potassium channel blocker can include 4-aminopyridine, a derivative thereof, or a combination thereof. The pharmaceutical composition can be administered with an additional therapeutic agent such as an anticonvulsant. The methods can be used for treating acute traumatic injury to an excitable tissue. The methods can restore at least a portion of lost motor function or sensory function, enhance repair and regeneration of stem or progenitor cells such as to promote neural cell generation, enhance cell survival, reduce scarring, decreases sox9 expression, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan expression, and other markers of tissue damage, decreases lesion size, decreases oxidative damage, or combinations thereof.
