The research on the flow and sediment movement in the action areas of waterway regulation structures and the resulting deformation and damage of such structures is an important part of waterway regulation research and has important practical significance. This paper summarizes the research on the structural forms of the three types of waterway regulation structures，namely spur dikes，beach protection（bottoms），and revetments，in the middle reach of the Yangtze River and the flow and sediment characteristics of their action areas. It reveals that relevant theoretical derivation and numerical calculation are fruitful. Then，it exemplifies the representative research results and compares them from the two aspects of the research perspective and factors considered. It suggests that further research can focus on the damage threshold under the combined effect of the location and scale of bed scouring，the development mode of bed scouring and repair methods，and the impact of extreme hydrological conditions on the operation and damage of waterway regulation structures，etc.